Highland drops doubleheader at home to hard-hitting Belleville Rebels

There are days when one team has things going their way and the other team doesn’t.

On Tuesday at Optimist Field in Highland, the Belleville Rebels had things going their way and the Highland 18U Bulldogs were scuffling.

Belleville used timely hitting and solid pitching, steady defense and a late rally in the nightcap to upend the Bulldogs 10-4 and 3-2.

“You’ve got to give it to that Belleville team, one through nine or one through 10 every single one of their hitters hit,” Highland manager Kyle Schmitt said.

Belleville drew first blood in game one on an RBI-single by Jake Sutton off Bulldogs starter Tyler Werner for a 1-0 lead. Highland quickly responded with a three-run rally in the bottom of the first.

Centerfielder Landon Oestringer led off with a walk and later scored on Chase Wilson’s single to tie it at 1-1. Carter Wiegman ripped a single to right to plate Alex Buchmiller and then Logan Doll pounded a run-scoring double to left-center for a 3-1 lead.

“We came up big and got three runs early, so I was feeling pretty good since we had TW on the mound and he is usually pretty good,” Schmitt said.

Werner had trouble spotting his fastball early and it came back to bite him in the third inning as Belleville’s bats heated up. The Rebels got to Werner for five runs in the top of the third on four hits.

Brant Bowen’s two-run double to the left-field corner tied the game at 3-3 and Austin Hagel blasted a triple to left-center to push home two more runs. Jake Isaacs lofted a sacrifice fly to left scoring Hagel and the Rebels had a 6-3 lead.

“He couldn’t locate his fastball and he knew it and after the second or third inning, he just knew he didn’t have it,” Schmitt said.

Belleville struck for another four runs in the top of the fourth and Werner gave way to Christian Bauer in relief in the fifth as Highland fell behind 10-3.

Bauer, who was a fill-in for the night did a solid job, as he threw three innings of scoreless relief and allowed the pitching-thin Bulldogs a chance to rest their tired bullpen.

“He was just like a sub-in for us today and was kind of wild in the first inning but the second inning he was a little bit better and was able to settle in,” Schmitt said. “That was the first time John (Walker) was catching him so it was hard but him being able to finish off that ballgame, I was really thankful he was able to do that.”

Bulldogs lose late lead in second game

In game two, the Bulldogs led 2-1 entering the top of the seventh, but Belleville scored two runs of Werner, who came on in relief, to pull ahead by a run.

Highland tried rallying in the bottom of the seventh, but Tyler Robards hit into a game-ending double play. Kolby Frey started and pitched six strong innings, giving up just one run.

Highland fell to 16-7 with the two losses. Belleville improved to 7-1.