(From Dubois County) The high-flying Hopkinsville Hoppers made the long trek to League Stadium in Huntingburg, Indiana to take on the Bombers last night. 1,840 Dubois County fans turned out amid the mid-90s heat and humidity for the titanic struggle between the defending champions and the current league leaders.

These two squads squared off in three memorable battles earlier in the season. The first matchup was a 1-1 pitchers' duel through 8 innings. A doubleheader last weekend produced an extra-inning walkoff homer followed by an 18-13 slugfest. Each game landed with the Hoppers getting the W.

Last night was no exception. Once again, the starting pitchers took center stage. 

In last night's affair, Chase Maddux (son of Greg) scattered six Dubois County singles while shutting out the home squad through eight innings of work. The Hoppers defense combined with Maddux for a fundamentally clean game, allowing no Bombers to reach via error, walk, or hit batter.

Meanwhile, Caleb Wagner and Raunel Perez responded with outstanding mound effort of their own for Dubois County. Wagner pitched the first six innings, yielding just two runs on five hits to the hard-hitting Hoppers who average 9.5 runs per game. Perez held the Hoppers scoreless and hitless over the final three frames.

But Hopkinsville pushed two runs across in the fourth inning, and made them stand up on this night. A leadoff walk and a fielder's choice where the Bombers were unable to cut down the lead runner put two on with nobody out. Grant Robbins singled in Andrew Gross. Kyle O'Keefe followed with a double to plate Hunter Holland.

After that, the pitchers for both teams dominated. Hopkinsville only pushed one more runner to third. Dubois County was never able to advance a player past second base.

O'Keefe led the Hoppers offense with a pair of base hits. Ben Balgaard rapped three singles for the Bombers. Trey Fulton added a single and a double.

Maddux improves to 2-1 for the season. Austin Hearn picks up his first save, holding the Bombers in check after giving up a leadoff double to Fulton in the ninth inning.

The loss drops Wagner to 2-1.

Hopkinsville is now 20-2, and leads the league by at least a week's worth of games. Dubois County falls to an even .500 at 10-10, dropping their seventh consecutive game.