Anderson University baseball senior Kasey Henderson (Muncie, Ind./Cowan) tossed a two-hit shutout as the fifth-seeded Ravens took an 8-0 victory against sixth-seeded Hanover College during Game 1 of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Tournament Opening Series at Don Brandon Field on Friday.
"This was a great team performance all the way around and a tremendous game by Kasey on the mound," Coach Mathew Bair said. "Now it's time to refocus and prepare for a battle [on Saturday]."
Henderson (6-1) struck out five batters, issued two walks and allowed zero runs on two hits in nine innings. Both of the hits Henderson gave up were singles.
T.J. Price (Anderson, Ind./Daleville) connected on an RBI single in the bottom of the first inning to put Anderson (21-17) on the board.
During the second, Branton Sanders (Whiteland, Ind./Whiteland) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring in a run. Justin Reed (Martinsville, Ind./Martinsville) drove in two runs on a sacrifice fly as the deep fly ball to center scored both Jason Hall-Manley (New Palestine, Ind./New Palestine) and Bennie Day (Charlestown, Ind./Jeffersonville). The Ravens led 4-0 after two innings.
Jonathan Willoughby (Speedway, Ind./Speedway) singled in a run during the third.
Reed smacked an RBI double in the fourth to extend Anderson's lead to 6-0.
During the fifth, Hall-Manley blasted a two-run home run.
Reed went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs. Price finished 3-for-4. Hall-Manley went 2-for-4 with a two-run jack. Sanders finished 2-for-4 with a triple. Grahm Reedy (Yorktown, Ind./Yorktown) and Willoughby rounded out Anderson's 11 hits with singles.
Singles from Andrew Littlefield and Alex Christie account for Hanover's two hits.
Eli Copner (5-4) suffered the loss. He fanned five batters, yielded three walks and surrendered eight runs (four earned) on 11 hits in eight innings.
The two teams will close out the best-of-3 series on Saturday. Game 2 is set to begin at 12 p.m. If Game 3 is necessary, it will immediately follow Game 2.