BonnerSprings.com

Basehor-Linwood used timely hitting to defeat Tonganoxie 2-1 on Friday .

"We had good pitching and were able to come up with clutch hits," coach David Svoboda said. "That is a great sign for us early in the year."

It was two triples, one in the second and one in the sixth, off the bats of Basehor-Linwood players that decided the tight, well-pitched game between THS starter Logan Forbis and BLHS lefty Tyler Henley.

Both of the Bobcats' triples were just out of the reach of Chieftain outfielders.

In the top of the second, the Bobcats' Tyler Miles hit a one-out triple to right-center and THS center fielder Rob Schlicht dove for the ball, but was only able to get a piece of his glove on it before it landed safely for BLHS. Chris Giomi then doubled to knock in Miles.

The other triple that troubled the Chieftains (3-2) came in the top of the sixth. Again Schlicht nearly snagged the fly, which Henley hammered just over the center fielder's head. Henley eventually scored with two outs when Miles singled to right field to score the go-ahead and deciding run.

While the Bobcats got six hits off the Chieftains, Tonganoxie only managed two singles in the game. With a base hit in the fourth and another in the seventh, Tonganoxie wasn't able to string together hits in the same fashion as BLHS, said Jace Waters, who combined with Grant Ebbert for the Chieftains' hits.

"The two triples, we got a glove on both of them," Waters said of the close contest. "It was just not our day."

Waters said the Chieftains had trouble solving Henley.

"He was a lot different. We hadn't seen a lefty this year. It was a lot different seeing him than a lot of the righties and he had a good curveball," Waters noted. "We won't see many pitchers like him."

THS coach Phil Loomis also praised Henley for his performance on the mound and the coach figured runs would come at a premium with the lefty and Forbis squaring off.

He said the Chieftains, whose other loss came in a 9-8 setback at Jeff West on April 1, have to learn to do the little things it takes to succeed in tight contests.

"A three-run homer is not what you're looking for," Loomis said, noting that he needs all his players to manufacture runs by executing with bunts, hitting grounders the opposite way to advance a runner and the like.

"We've got to get 13 people to be able to do that," he said. "Right now there's about three or four, when they go to the plate, I can count on them whatever I call."

The Chieftains were able to manufacture a run in the bottom of the fourth that tied the game at that juncture.

Waters led the inning off with a base hit to right field, but was later forced out as Forbis reached on a fielder's choice. Forbis then showed some wise base running during the next at bat when Schlicht laid down a would-be sacrifice bunt. A throwing error on the play allowed Schlicht to advance to second base, meanwhile Forbis never stopped running after leaving first on the play and got all the way home for the tying score.

Forbis pitched seven solid innings for THS, striking out nine and allowing six hits in the process.