By Tim Taylor

The Charleston Middle offense couldn’t get going against an effective pair of contrasting pitchers in the IESA Regional Championship game on Monday afternoon.

The duo of Trey Hoggard and Tyler Henry kept the Trojans off balance. Hoggard pitched three innings of one-hit ball by pumping fastballs in the low- to mid-70s. Henry pitched three innings of two-hit ball by using a dyad of fastballs and devious breaking balls.

The number one seed Rockets got started in an explosive way in the bottom of the first. Hoggard demolished a pitch from Alex Matheny to deep right-center. He came home with an inside-the-park home run.

In the bottom of the third, Tolono plated four more runs. Leadoff hitter Henry got on base with a walk. Braden Henry came up next, and the Rockets executed a perfect hit and run with the batter hitting to the right side of infield where second baseman Rohan Walters had vacated to cover for the steal.

Hoggard walked to load the bases. The lead runner came in to score on a wild pitch, and the next batter hit a sacrifice fly to bring in another run. Another Rocket runner scored after a hit to deep right field resulted in a fielding error.

Quinn Taylor came in the pitch the next three innings and allowed two runs each in the fourth and fifth innings, and the Rockets closed out the game with a game-clinching grounder past third base to score a runner from third in the bottom of the sixth.

The CMS Trojans end their season at 9-5.

  • The Tolono Unity Junior High Baseball team celebrates winning the regional title after defeating Charleston Middle School 10-0. (Photo/Dominic Baima)
  • Charleston catcher Wyatt Gordon tags out a Tolono Unity runner Monday at the CHS Baseball Field. (Photo/Dominic Baima)
  • A Tolono Unity runner is tagged out by Charleston’s Ty Helton at second base Monday during the Charleston Middle School 10-0 loss. (Photo/Dominic Baima)