Aurora baseball has one of the best one-two pitching combos in the state and that will keep them in most every game.
When the offense gets going with the duo of Wyatt Sparks and Zac Shoemaker, the Houn’ Dawgs are virtually unstoppable.
Helias Catholic found that out on Thursday in the Class 4 State Quarterfinals. Aurora scored three first-inning runs on the way to an 8-2 win over the Crusaders to return to the Class 4 Final Four for the second straight year.
“It is huge. Any time we score early it is a huge relief not only to our offense but our pitchers. It is big to put runs up,” Hoffman said.
Sparks took the hill for the Houn Dawgs and set the Crusaders down in order in the top of the first with two strikeouts and a ground out.
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Aurora wasted no time in the bottom of the first as Sparks led off with a single followed by a Kaleb Baker double on a 3-2 picth. After a fielder’s choice by Matthew Miller, Gage Singer knocked a double to bring the first run home. A Preston Naylor sacrifice fly made it 2-0 before a Jay Lee single two batters later made it 3-0.
Those three runs would be all the Houn Dawg pitching staff would need.
Sparks went six innings and struck out 11 Crusaders before he was forced to yield to Austin Erickson due to a high pitch count. That included striking out the side in the sixth inning where Sparks looked as strong as he did in the first of the game
“He is a kid that, when their good guys come up, he is better than he ever is. He is true competitor. That is why we are where we are. We have got two big arms that know what they are doing when they get up there,” Aurora Head Coach James Hoffman said.
Erickson closed it out with authority by striking out the side in the seventh.
Aurora added five more runs in the game including a solo home run by Gage Singer in the bottom of the third. That included 11 total hits with 10 more runners left on base. The Houn’ Dawgs got production from every spot in the lineup, which will be key to a successful Final Four run.
“We are going to be a lot more successful if we are driving pitch counts up and we are driving the baseball,” Hoffman said. “Every single kid the pitcher cannot take a kid off. It is one of those deals where they have to be at the top of their game for every single kid.”
All but two players return from last year’s team that finished in third place, and that experience paid dividends today.
“I think we were a little bit tight that first game on a big stage (in the 2015 Final Four). It was a special moment and the kids got caught up in it. We were young. I think that was the biggest thing,” Hoffman said. “That (2015’s experience) helped us a ton today. They weren’t tight. They weren’t worried. They were very confident in what we can do and went out and did it today.”
Next week Aurora will be aiming for much more than third place.
“As soon as we left there (O’Fallon) last year, they weren’t satisfied. It is great to win your last ballgame, but we want to win our last two ballgames. That is the most important thing to us,” Hoffman said.
Aurora will face the winner of Pleasant Hill and Smithville at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 1.
