By Austin Kight | Echo
On Wednesday, the Trojans jumped out to an early lead, but found themselves at a standstill until a late game rally in the eighth propelled them to a 5-1 victory over the Knights in the first round of the Crossroads League tournament.
Head coach Kyle Gould was satisfied with the team's performance but understands the offense will need to improve as the competition stiffens.
"We struggled against one of the better pitchers in our league and he made it really difficult for us to score runs," Gould said.
Senior Derek Kinzer and freshman Grant Hendershot led the offence for the Trojans both going 2-for-4 at the plate.
"Heading into the game we knew that Marian's pitcher T.J. Witham had great stuff," Kinzer said. "He has great command and a good slider. With that we had to work the count and get a good fastball to hit so it took us longer than usual to make an adjustment, but when we finally did, we made it count."
After going up 1-0 in the first with a leadoff triple from Kinzer followed by a RBI groundout off the bat of Moorehead, the Trojans were held scoreless through the seventh. Marian answered in the eighth to tie the game at 1-1 but could not hold the Trojans as they drove in four more runs in the bottom of the inning capping the scoring at 5-1.
The game was marked by an outstanding performance from senior Ryan Baker (5-4) who gave the Trojans seven strong innings allowing only one run off of four hits. Unfortunately, Baker was given a no decision after walking Marian's Brett Metcalf who came around to score the tying run later that inning.
"We did what we had to do to win the game," Baker said. "We kept our heads in the game and were able to get to their bullpen in the eighth inning and took advantage of the change. Our defense played great and Caleb Miller slammed the door on them to end the game like he has all year."
The momentum carried over on Thursday for the Trojans, topping St. Francis in the second round of the Crossroads League tournament hosted at Winterholter Field.
The Trojans found themselves struggling to get things started offensively, trailing 1-0 in the first inning after a sacrifice fly off the bat of St. Francis's Jerrid Rydell. Senior Taylor Luna tied the game at 1-1 in the third with a two-out RBI single to right field scoring junior Austin York.
The Cougars responded in the bottom of the third with two runs taking a 3-1 lead, but could not hold on to the lead as Taylor drove in five more runs in four innings to cruise past St. Francis to claim a 6-4 victory.
Leading the team with a .360 batting average, Kinzer commanded the offence for the Trojans going 4-for-4 with two walks, two RBI's and a run scored.
"One of our trends throughout the year is scoring later in the game, and this plays to our advantage now that we have 9 inning games," Kinzer said "However, when we face a good starter, we need to manufacture runs early. If we can get up on the opponent early, we've got a good shot to put them away.
Sophomore Josh DeGraaf (8-1) took the mound for the Trojans, allowing four earned runs, the most he has given up all season. The young ace gave Taylor 7.2 solid innings of work allowing four runs on eight hits and two walks.
With only two games left in the Crossroads League tournament, the Trojans are quickly realizing they can be a national champion caliber team with some minor adjustments at the plate.
"Hopefully we can continue to get good starting pitching," Gould said. "If we do that we should be able to stay on schedule with our rotation. We need to be better on offense and take some pressure off of our pitching and defense."
Next up, the Trojans will face the Cougars again on Friday at noon, hoping to clinch a spot in the Crossroads League Tournament Championship game Saturday. If Taylor loses Friday, both teams will play again at 3 pm with the winner advancing.
