King of the hill
Hillis notches second win for Squirrels, beat Post 63 12-2
CHARLESTON -- Greenville native Tim Hillis is liking his new gig as one of the Charleston Squirrels starters.
Hillis, along with two other Greenville baseball players, had the opportunity to play for Charleston manager Michael Minner and his very-well established senior babe ruth team and figured, 'why not?'
They tried out and the rest is history.
"Minner's a great coach and when we found out about the opportunity, we just thought 'what the heck?'," Hillis said. "It's a great experience. We love playing for Minner and this team has a bunch of great guys on it."
Hillis is now 2-0 for Minner and the Squirrels after beating Cape's Junior Legion 12-2 in six innings Monday at Hillhouse Park.
The right-hander likes to attack hitters from the start. He's a prototypical 'see it and hit it' type of pitcher that likes to pitch to contact.
"I just come out, throw strikes and let my defense do everything," Hillis said. "That's how I pitch. I just go at them and say 'here, hit it.' I don't like to walk guys because that causes runs."
He gave up six hits and walked just one in his six innings on the hill. He also struck out four.
"He threw well," Minner said about Hillis. "I thought the defense played pretty good behind him too. All-around good defensive effort."
Hillis also received plenty of run support.
The Squirrels knocked around Post 63 for 10 hits and took advantage of six walks -- three of the free passes given up came around to score.
"We're starting to do some things better," Minner said. "I know I talk a lot about that we don't worry about what goes on until the end of the year -- which I don't. But at the same time, if we're keeping score, we're out here to win. Our ultimate goal is to win and I think we took a step forward tonight."
Just like he was on the mound, Hillis was stellar at the plate too. He led Charleston with two hits, including a double and had three RBIs.
Travis Phillips added two hits while Zac Chasteen added a triple and two RBIs.
Trevor Propst and Aaron Grainger led Cape with two hits -- both had a double and a single. Ross James added an RBI triple in the fifth inning.
Charleston got out to a 3-0 lead after the first two innings pushing two runs across in the first.
After Cape scored their first run in the top of the fourth, the Squirrels opened the game wide open with four runs in the fourth and another five in the bottom of the sixth ending the game on the 10-run mercy rule.
What was scheduled to be a double-header, Game 2 was cancelled due to the thunderstorms Monday evening.