Dana Hills Fights Past Cullman At NHSI

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CARY, N.C.—Hans Crouse and Jacob Heatherly were the marquee attractions, but it was more unheralded players who made the difference in the National High School Invitational matchup between Dana Hills (Calif.) High and Cullman (Ala.).

Jeremy Ciolek hit the tiebreaking RBI double and Thomas Van Hoomissen made a diving catch in right field to end the game, lifting Dana Hills over Cullman 4-3 on Wednesday afternoon.

Crouse, BA’s No. 31 draft prospect, flashed a fastball up to 97 mph and struck out nine in 5.1 innings. He made two throwing errors that allowed Cullman to jump out to a 3-1 lead through three innings, but settled in to retire seven of his final nine batters and pick up the win.

“Going into that you expect it to be a dogfight,” Crouse said. “My offense came up really big for me.”

His Dana Hills teammates rallied against Heatherly, BA’s No. 39 draft prospect. The 6-foot-3 southpaw surrendered a tying two-run single to Joe DeBaca in the third inning and the go-ahead double to Ciolek in the fifth.

Heatherly went 5.1 innings, gave up two hits and four runs, walked four, struck out seven, and hit three batters to take the loss.

“I just wasn’t feeling it today,” Heatherly said. “It wasn’t one of my days, so I just tried to compete and fight through.”

Freshman lefthander Dante Jackson took over for Crouse with the tying run on second in the sixth but struck out two to escape the jam. With the two on and no out in the seventh, Jackson struck out two more and got Owen Lovell to line to right, where Van Hoomissen charged and made a diving catch to end it.

“We gripped and we came and we won,” Dana Hills coach Tom Faris said. “It was a great team win.”