Friday night baseball in Owensboro, KY was brought to the fans at Chautauqua Park by the Hoptown Hoppers and the Owensboro Riverdawgs as Game 1 was underway in the Ohio Valley League championship series.
Owensboro, the top seed in the OVL, hosted the first game in a best-of-three series. While both teams were undefeated this postseason, something had to give.
The Hoppers won in a pitchers’ duel, 3-2, thanks to Nick Proto’s home run bomb in the top of the eleventh inning.
Hoptown found themselves trailing in the second inning, as Owensboro managed to squeeze a run out of Hopper ace Brian Coffey.
However, Hoptown found their offense in the sixth inning as veteran MJ Rookard went yard to tie it up.
The Riverdawgs showed no remorse, though, doubling for a run in the bottom of the inning to retake the lead.
As Hoptown was down to its final at-bats, Rookard brought his A-game once again. The OVL All-Star laid down a sacrifice bunt to score Cole Cummings and ultimately send the game to extra innings.
Both teams failed to see a baserunner in the tenth but Proto refused to continue that trend.
He sent an 0-1 pitch far and over the fence to take a commanding 3-2 lead and suddenly have the home team down to their final three outs.
Hassan Westbrook retired the first two batters he faced and while walking a Riverdawg, didn’t waste time retiring the fourth batter for the game’s final out.
Westbrook earned the win, pitching three no-hit innings to fan six and allow just one walk.
Thomas Cessna took the loss.
Proto and Rookard stole the show on offense, and while their performance resulted in victory, the Hoppers will need to bring more productive bats to the plate for Game 2 if they wish to sweep the field and take the OVL title.
Hoptown will host Owensboro Saturday night at Colonel Field for the second game of the series. A Hopper win would grant them the OVL crown while a Riverdawg win would force a decisive Game 3 in Owensboro on Sunday.
First pitch is set for 7 P.M.