Experience key in Hawks’ wild district win over Tigers

When it comes to playing ball well in big-time situations, much success comes with having been there and done that before.

When the Hiland Hawks squared off with the Strasburg Tigers on May 22 at Garaway High School for the right to be crowned district champ, the Hawks held one big advantage in their hand.

The Tigers (19-11) have never won a district baseball title, whereas since 2015 the Hawks have won six out of a possible eight district titles.

After Hiland’s wild 8-5 comeback victory that tilted its way on a sixth-inning Cody Yoder grand slam, make it seven of nine, and the experience of having been there before paid off for Hiland.

“As often as we’ve been able to make it to regionals, not a lot of other teams get to do that,” said Hiland head coach Chris Dages, who has led his team to regionals the past four campaigns, the highlight being a Division IV state title last season. “That’s one of the goals in mind — one step at a time.”

Strasburg head coach Mike Becker said the Tigers have played in district title games before but never came away a winner. This time they could see the peak, but they couldn’t quite scale it.

“This is this group’s first time being here, and we faced a big challenge, and those guys are No. 1 in the state for a reason, and they’ve been here many times before,” Becker said. “They executed when they had to, and Yoder didn’t miss.”

Hiland’s experience in playing in big games paid huge dividends, especially after the feisty Tigers stormed back from a 3-0 deficit after four innings with a four-run fifth, tacking on another run in the top of the sixth to claim a 5-3 lead.

Hiland held a 3-0 lead until the fifth, when the Tigers posted a four-spot that had the Hawks reeling, thanks in large part to a bases-clearing three-run double by Derek Rissler. Suddenly, the heavy underdog Tigers were up 4-3 and would tack on another run in the sixth to go up 5-3.

Strasburg sophomore Drew Lancaster had done a masterful job of stifling Hiland’s offense, but that changed in the sixth when a single and walk chased him from the mound. After Caden Coblentz dropped down a perfect bunt single to load the bases, senior Cody Yoder delivered what has to be the biggest hit of his career, driving a ball well over the fence in left-center for a game-changing grand slam.

“It felt pretty good,” Cody Yoder said. “I was really just looking to do my job. Bases loaded with less than two outs, I was trying to hit it hard somewhere. I got a good pitch and just drove it.”

Yoder has been white-hot in the tournament, but nothing compared to this monster swing of the bat that changed the outcome of the game.

“That was the exact guy we wanted at the plate in that situation,” Dages said. “The result didn’t surprise me one bit. He’s a senior. He’s been there before, and he’s got the drive. He’s very passionate and wants to win. He wasn’t going to give that at-bat away for anything.”

The Hawks tacked on one more run, and senior Brady Yoder closed out the game, and the Hawks collected yet another district championship trophy to add to the collection.

Dages said after swatting every team in the tournament coming into this game, the coaches were excited to see the team respond to adversity like it did.

“There’s always one game where you face some serious adversity, and hopefully, this was the one,” Dages said. “The guys did a phenomenal job. They had confidence in themselves and knew they were going to be able to put some runs up.”

For the Tigers, it was a learning experience Becker hopes will help them grow. He said he was proud of watching his team battle against a giant obstacle, with few people giving them a chance against the defending state champs who ended the season as Div. IV’s top-ranked team.

“Everyone saw the previous game and saw Hiland lay one on a talented Toronto team, and I doubt that they gave us much of a chance, but our kids believed because we’ve been playing good baseball for the past four weeks. We believed we had a chance, and we gave ourselves one,” Becker said. “I hope they see this as a growing opportunity to take a step up in our program.”

Dages said he’ll take his kids up against anyone and trusts in the system and the focus of this group, something this program has had for many years in establishing itself as one of the premier small-school programs in the state.

“It builds from year to year,” Dages said. “The younger guys see it, and they make it their own when it’s their turn.”

He said this team works relentlessly, and that work helped them overcome a tough situation to live to fight another regional battle.