Second-ranked Mill Creek put together five consecutive two-out hits in a four-run third inning and defeated seventh-ranked Hillgrove 8-5 on Tuesday in the second game of a doubleheader that evened their best-of-three quarterfinal in the Class AAAAA baseball playoffs.
Hillgrove (25-7) won the opener 6-3 as Tyler Graham (8-0) struck out nine batters and had two hits.
Second-ranked Mill Creek (25-7) got even with 16 hits in the nightcap. Aryan Rodriguez (4-for-4), Casey Parham (3-for-4) and Tim Hernandez (3-for-3) had 10 of them, and Jerad Curry hit a home run in support of Brian Stillwell (10-2).
Seventh-ranked Hillgrove got a three-run homer from Tucker Ehmig to cut the lead to 6-5 in the fifth, but got no closer.
The teams will play the deciding game at Hillgrove on Wednesday. Both teams are 25-7.
In the first game, junior right-hander Graham overcame a rough first inning to strike out nine batters and win his eighth consecutive decision.
Graham also had two hits for host Hillgrove, which won its 11th consecutive game and ended Mill Creek’s 11-game winning streak.
Graham allowed a home run to Mill Creek’s leadoff hitter, Devin Bonin, and hit the next batter, Chandler Boyd. Jerad Curry followed with a two-run homer to left field, giving Mill Creek (24-7) a 3-0 lead after only a few pitches. It was the sixth homer of the season for both Bonin and Curry.
Graham (8-0) had allowed only two home runs in 50 innings entering the game. But he settled down to strike out the next three batters, and Hillgrove began to chip away at the lead.
Mill Creek errors at short and third led to three Hillgrove runs in the second and fourth innings, and Ryan Raper hit a solo home run in the third. Hillgrove scored two more in the fifth on hits by Max Oberkofler and Graham for the 6-3 lead that held up.
A turning point for Hillgrove came on defense in the third inning, when Mill Creek led 3-1 and had runners on first and second with one out. Graham got cleanup hitter Connor Kasten (batting .420) to ground into a double play. Graham retired nine of the next 10 batters.
In the seventh, Nick Tillman and Parham opened with singles against Graham, but Mitchell Wade entered to retire the final three and got the save, his third.
Mill Creek starter Chip Fleming (7-3) allowed six hits in 5 1/3 innings. Mill Creek made four errors behind him.
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