BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Keystone Heights High School’s baseball team lost its second straight game as well as losing for the second time this season to host Orange Park, which defeated the Indians 3-1 on April 5.
The Class 3A Indians, who lost 5-2 to Class 5A Orange Park on March 28 in Keystone, put two on with one out in the top of the first, but failed to score and left a runner stranded at third.
Keystone (12-4) had two runners put out at home in the fourth inning, which included an inning-ending out on a throw from right field.
The Indians tied the game in the fifth. Andru Siemer hit a two-out single. He stole second and scored on an Alex Addington double. Keystone loaded the bases when Connor Guy singled and Austin Smith walked, but a fly out ended the inning.
The Raiders answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the fifth, taking advantage of two singles and an error before a runner scored on a passed ball.
Keystone’s Austin Musgrove pitched a complete game, giving up two earned runs, seven hits and two walks, while striking out seven.
The Indians went 1-1 in their previous two games, with the win coming by a score of 8-4 against host Class 5A Middleburg on April 2.
Guy, who went 2 for 3, hit an RBI single as part of a two-run fifth that tied the score at 3-3.
The game went into extra innings, with Keystone scoring five runs in the top of the eighth. Aiden Screen was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, while Tallon Campbell drove in a run on a sacrifice fly. Ty Mitzel then hit a two-run single and later scored on an error.
Smith, who went 2 for 4, was one of four players who drove in one run each, joining Campbell, Guy and Screen.
Mitzel led the team with two RBI.
Gage Barry started on the mound, allowing three runs (one earned) and four hits in seven innings. He had seven strikeouts.
Musgrove threw the final inning, giving up one run and one hit, while striking out two.
On April 4, the Indians got a three-run homer by Guy, but lost 9-6 to host Class 6A Buchholz.
A balk and an RBI single from Smith put Keystone ahead 2-1 in the top of the third, but Buchholz led off the bottom of the inning with a home run and scored three runs total in going back on top 4-2.
Keystone trailed 8-3 before scoring three runs in the sixth. Mitzel singled, while Siemer reached on an error. Guy then drove the first pitch he saw over the fence in center.
The Indians host Class 4A North Marion on Tuesday, April 9, at 6:30 p.m. and will travel to play Class 1A Baldwin on Thursday, April 11, at 7 p.m. Keystone hosts Class 3A Fernandina Beach on Friday, April 12, at 6:30 p.m. and then travels to play Class 4A Baker County on Monday, April 15, at 7 p.m.
On Tuesday, April 16, the Indians travel to play Class 3A Bradford at 7 p.m.
