Springs Valley Community High School

For four-plus innings, the Springs Valley baseball team was dead in the water. The Blackhawks had come out against Crawford County and allowed a first-inning run to the Wolfpack, then two second-inning runs and three third-inning runs. At the end of the fourth, it was 9-0. Then, with two outs in the fifth inning, Braylon Kovas stepped to the plate with runners on second and third. The freshman laced a hit through the middle and broke the seal, scoring a pair of runs. Four more runs would follow in the fifth, then after a pair of strikeouts to start the sixth Jonas Hammond would get hit by a pitch, sparking a rally that resulted in seven more runs for the Blackhawks. Each and every run they scored came with two outs in either inning. They’d lock it down after that, taking a 13-10 victory despite their early struggles. “I was extremely proud of them. That’s the most fight we’ve shown maybe since I’ve coached, just to be honest,” Springs Valley coach Rob Denbo said. “In that two-and-a-half innings they kind of got on a roll, it got contagious, and they did it all with two outs.” After the Blackhawks took the lead, they turned to Braylon Kovas to pitch the final two frames and the freshman was rock solid. He’d allow just one run, an unearned run, on no hits and one walk. He struck out five of the eight batters he faced and deliver the Blackhawks their second conference victory. The outing continued an upward swing for Kovas, as he hasn’t allowed a single hit in the three appearances he’s made since picking up the loss at Barr-Reeve on April 11. In the two weeks since then he’s pitched five innings and faced 19 batters, striking out 13 of them and walking just two. A big part of that improvement has been Kovas’ willingness to tone things down a bit, opting for improved control rather than throwing the ball as hard as he can on every single pitch. “What you saw from Braylon tonight is what I saw all winter and what I expect him to do any time he comes in,” Denbo said. “He was solid, consistent. He just came in and threw strikes. He got a little rushed there a couple of times, but as soon as he backed off a little bit and realized that he didn’t have to throw his hardest to get guys out, we got them out and that’s what we have to have to save a lead like that.” Offensively Springs Valley got a big night out of Konner Chase — the junior went 3-5 with a double and 3 runs batted in as part of what — but the contributions the Blackhawks got from the back half of their lineup were just as important. The sixth spot through the ninth spot in Monday’s lineup were occupied by freshmen — Noah Allstott, Keyton Jones, Landon Farris, and Blake Buchanan in that order — and that group was crucial to Springs Valley’s success. They combined to go 7-13 with two doubles, six runs batted in, six runs scored, two walks, a hit by pitch, and a stolen base. Just as importantly, they only struck out once and reached base in 10 of their 16 plate appearances, a whopping .625 on-base percentage. “That’s the kind of stuff we have to have. Like Coach Cruz says, we have to have team at-bats and they’re just having team at-bats down there, whatever it takes,” Denbo said. “That's what we have to have, especially at the bottom of the order just to get on or put the ball in play and run.” Springs Valley (5-7, 2-2 PLAC) has now won four of its last five games, continuing to dig its way out of the 1-6 hole it started the season in. The Blackhawks will be back in action on Wednesday against Scottsburg, then on Friday they’ll travel to Paoli for a conference matchup. As they continue the season, they’ll focus on being locked in from the first pitch rather than from when their back is against the wall like it was at Crawford County. “We really have to play better against teams that we know we should beat. That’s number one. We can’t get off to these kinds of starts, we can’t tell ourselves that we can coast. We’re not good enough to coast anywhere,” Denbo said. “We lowered the bar on some things tonight, but we raised the bar on fight and as long as we’re adding some kind of positive element or raising the bar somewhere, that’s what we have to do to keep getting better.” BLACKHAWKS 13, WOLFPACK 10 SPRINGS VALLEY;|;CRAWFORD COUNTY ;AB;R;H;BI;|;;AB;R;H;BI Chase cf, p;5;1;3;3;|;Belcher cf;4;2;1;0 Cruz ss;5;1;1;0;|;D Menke lf;3;0;0;1 Hammond c;4;0;0;0;|;Nickelson p, 2b;4;0;1;1 B Kovas 3b, p;4;2;1;2;|;Arnold 1b;4;0;1;0 Land p, cf, lf;5;2;3;2;|;Allen ss;3;2;1;0 Allstott rf;4;2;3;3;|;Decker 3b;4;0;0;0 Jones 1b;3;2;1;0;|;C Menke c;3;0;1;1 Farris dh, 2b;3;1;2;2;|;Breeden 2b, p;4;3;3;3 Buchanan 2b, 3b;3;1;1;1;|;Eastridge rf;3;1;1;0 Dunn cr;0;1;0;0;|;Decker cr;0;2;0;0 Pantoja flex-lf;0;0;0;0;| Totals;36;13;15;13;|;Totals;32;10;9;6 Springs Valley (5-7);000;067;0—13 Crawford County (0-10);123;300;1—10 E: Springs Valley 5, Crawford County 3. LOB: Crawford County 9, Springs Valley 7. 2B: Allstott 2, Chase, Land, Breeden 2. SB: Land 2, Chase, Jones, Allen 2, Belcher 2, Breeden 2, Nickelson 2, Arnold, Eastridge, D Menke. CS: Farris. S: Nickelson. SF: D Menke. ;;IP;H;R;ER;BB;SO Springs Valley;Land;2.1;4;6;4;1;2 ;Chase (W, 1-0);2.2;5;3;3;1;1 ;B Kovas;2.0;0;1;0;1;5 Crawford County;Nickelson (L);6.0;12;7;5;1;2 ;Breeden;1.0;3;6;6;1;2 HBP: Hammond (by Breeden), Jones (by Nickelson), B Kovas (by Breeden). WP: Land. Bk: B Kovas.