Prep Baseball: Behind Buchanan, Harrisburg handles Eldorado
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[It's become somewhat of a tradition for the Harrisburg baseball team.
If a Bulldog can finish out a frame in eight pitches or less, Bulldog head coach Jay Thompson will take them to Dairy Queen for ice cream.
Consider it the standard for excellence.
Consider Blake Buchanan one of the biggest fans of Thompson's treat.
The sophomore southpaw had two innings of eight pitches or less as he helped lead Harrisburg to an 11-2 victory over cross-country rival Eldorado Friday afternoon at Dorris Heights Field.
Buchanan worked seven full innings, striking out five and walking just one, while giving scattering five Eagle hits and two earned runs.
"Buchanan was fantastic," Thompson said. "He was in the strike zone and we made plays behind him."
Eldorado struck first with a pair of runs in the top half of the first inning when Joe Blair and Andy Pena each led the inning off with a couple of singles. After a Brennan Unthank line out to left field, Devin Aldridge singled down the right field line to score Blair. Adam Collier then reached base after an error at first, which resulted in Pena scoring.
Harrisburg didn't waste much time in mounting their comeback.
The Bulldogs put up four runs in the bottom half of the first as Cameron Cummins led the inning off after being hit by a pitch. Cody Hall then singled, advancing Cummins to third and Ryne Roper singled scoring Cummins.
After a Tyler McGowan strikeout, Justin Younger singled past short to score Hall and following a Brennan Street strikeout, Nick Davis singled into center scoring Roper and Younger.
Harrisburg then put up three runs in the bottom half of the second as Cummins doubled to center after a lead off pop out by Sykes Thompson. Cummins scored on a ripped double into left field that scored Cummins. Both Hall and Roper scored on wild pitches in the inning.
The Bulldogs did the extent of their damage in the third inning when Cummins cleared the bases with a two-out two RBI double off the wall in left field that scored Ryan Luce and Thompson.
It was a two-out rally that saw the Bulldogs follow Cummins with four more singles, plating four runs in all in the inning.
For Eldorado head coach Billy Tippett his best assessment to his players was where they want to be as opposed to where they are.
"Today was a perfect example of where we want to be and where we are at," he said. "We don't catch a tough fly ball in left field and Harrisburg's center fielder makes a heck of a catch. We've two outs and guys on second and third in the first, they get out of the inning. They have guys on second and third with two outs in the inning and get the hit."
Eagle starter Trey Sigler got roughed up a bit against the Bulldogs. Sigler gave up 11 hits and 11 runs, while striking out just three and walking two.
Garrison Hathaway, Brennan Unthank, along with Aldridge, Pena and Blair all had a hit on the day. Aldridge and Collier each had RBIs, while Blair and Pena had a run scored.
Roper finished 3-for-3 on the day with two runs scored and three RBIs, while Cummins and Hall were each 2-for-2. Cummins had three runs scored on the day and a pair of RBIs, while Hall scored three times.
Younger and Nick Davis each finished 2-for-4 with a run scored and two RBIs.
Thompson said his team has put an extra emphasis on hitting in recent days and added he thought it showed Friday.
"We've worked hard the last couple of days to try and cure some of our problems. I thought when we had the first group in there they really got after it. We've tried to shorten our swings and be a little more contact conscious and we were today."