Bethel’s Hoke comes up big

Earns MVP honors in Bob Ross Classic as Red beats Blue.

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By John Cummings, Contributing Writer 2:08 AM Sunday, July 17, 2011

DAYTON — After a three-week break from baseball, Bethel’s Colin Hoke focused on one thing.

Not overthinking.

The strategy worked as Hoke lined a pitch from Northmont’s Bryan Murphy down the third-base line to plate J.T. Brubaker and Jordan Hitt and give the Red team a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first inning of the 12th annual Bob Ross Classic high school all-star game at Fifth Third Field that it would never relinquish.

“I didn’t want to think too hard,” Hoke said after being named the game’s most valuable player. “I didn’t want to go up there and whiff looking, so I just concentrated on my fundamentals.”

The three-week break for Hoke consisted of some time at the batting cages to stay sharp but built more of an anticipation from the incoming senior at a school that has 70 in his class.

“I was really excited I hit the ball,” Hoke said. “I haven’t played in three weeks, so I was just loving being out there ... this was the greatest time ever.”

While Hoke was loving the experience, Red coach Terry Dickten of Centerville was scratching on his list to get the 25 players on the roster their time on the field.

“It was a little scratchy,” Dickten said of the list after his squad’s 6-4 win. “It is a matter of getting everyone their due. I thought it was a well-played, well-pitched game.”

The Blue team got on the board first when Springfield’s Titus Montgomery singled up the middle to lead off the game, stole second, advanced to third on an errant pickoff attempt and scored on a wild pitch.

Terrell Dorsey pushed the lead to 3-1 in the fourth when he walked and worked his way to third before scoring on a sac fly by Eric Green as the Red added single runs in the fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth innings.

The Blue got runs from Taylor Heubner and Daniel Barhorst to trim the deficit to 6-3 before getting to Bellbrook’s Nathan McKeever for a run in the ninth before he closed the door with a double play.

“It felt like a big league game, I liked it,” McKeever said. “It was a real honor to close it out. I had fun.”

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