Western Boone Jr. - Sr. High School

The Western Boone baseball team has big goals this season. To reach them, they are going to have to rely on their pitching and defense. Both were on full display on Tuesday night in their home opener against Bethesda Christian, holding the visiting Patriots to an unearned run on just four hits in a 4-1 win. "That's the culture that we are trying to build in Western Boone baseball - really good pitching and really good defense," Western Boone head coach Michael Nance said. "Tonight we did both of those." The way the Stars did it in the first two games of the season was different too. In game one, Quinn Westerfeld, Easton Nance and Levi Stewart struck out 12 batters and allowed just two hits in five innings. On Tuesday, Brennan Kopriva and Stewart struck out five and allowed four hits in seven innings, with the Stars' defense making more plays behind. Both game, had one error that led to the opponent's runs, but they were more situational errors that can easily be fixed. "We preach all the time that we are going to work on defense every day," Nance said. "Our guys need to know their assignment and what their role is, and I think they are really buying into that." Western Boone took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Westerfeld tripled and then scored on a wild pitch. Bethesda scored an unearned run in the top of the fourth, but the Stars escaped the inning without further damage thanks to a nice diving catch by Gavin Hawkins at second base. The Stars then rallied in the bottom half of the inning with two outs. Layton Yancey singled with one out and stole second base. After a walk to Evan Kiplinger and a wild pitch, Kahne Reid singled to right to drive in a run to make it 2-1. Yancey, Kiplinger and Reid - the bottom third of the Stars' line-up on Tuesday - combined for four hits and a walk, drove in two and scored three runs. "You can't win a high school baseball game unless you have nine guys that can hit," Nance said. "We have confidence in all our guys 1-9, and tonight it was 7, 8, 9 that did what we needed them to." The bottom of the order came through again to give the Stars two big insurance runs in the sixth. Yancey singled to lead off the inning, and after he was sacrificed to second, took third on a wild pitch. Reid drove him in with a single, and took second on the throw. Reid then advanced to third on a balk and scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-1. "We are really fast throughout our line-up and we aren't afraid to run and put pressure on the other team," Nance said. "We are willing to take some chances when it makes sense to do that. Tonight, we had a couple of opportunities too. Kahne Reid was our player of the game and him turning that single to an extra base and putting us in a position to add on more runs was huge." Kopriva got the win on the mound, going four innings and allowing an unearned run on three hits, striking out three. Stewart picked up the save, allowing just one hit in three innings. The Stars are schedule to face Class 2A No. 6 Greencastle on Thursday, then have a double-header with Class 3A No. 4 Western on Saturday. "I'm excited for the opportunities," Nance said. "This group has very big goals, and these next games are going to be an opportunity to really see where we are at early in the season and figure out what we need to work on the rest of the year." Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.