For The Tribune
The Crothersville and Trinity Lutheran baseball teams were able to get runners on base during the early part of Thursday’s game at Alf Snyder Field.
Trinity was able to score its runners while Crothersville was not, and the Cougars rolled to a 25-0 win.
The Cougars held a 5-0 lead after two innings, then scored seven in the third and sent 17 batters to the plate in the fourth with 13 of them scoring.
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“We had a lot of good swings,” Cougars coach Bob Tabeling said. “A lot of kids put the ball in play. They got an opportunity go up there and see live pitching. We hit the ball hard and had a lot (six) of doubles. We were driving it hard in the early part of the game, and that’s always a positive.”
Crothersville coach Jarrod Richey said his team played four good innings of ball Wednesday at West Washington, and he was hoping that level of play would carry over to the Trinity game.
Codi McDonald walked with one out in the first inning but was left stranded at first base.
Jesse Fink led off the second with a double for the Tigers’ only hit of the game, and Tyler Peters and Seth Anderson drew walks to load the bases, but a strikeout ended the threat.
The Cougars were aggressive at the plate form the start as Jake Moore opened the bottom of the first with a double, and he scored on Ross Kruse’s double. Jacob Schult singled to drive in Kruse, and Schult later scored on a wild pitch.
Adam Jones singled leading off the second and scored on another double by Moore, and Moore scored on a sacrifice fly by Schult to increase the lead to 5-0.
Trinity sent 12 batters to the plate in the third with five collecting hits, two walked and the Tigers committed two of their nine errors.
Schult had a bases-loaded triple when the Cougars scored 13 runs in the fourth.
Moore had three doubles, one RBI and scored five runs, Kruse had a double, two walks, was hit by a pitch and reached first safely on an error and scored four runs.
Schult had three hits, scored three runs and had six RBI, and Crick scored three runs and had three RBI.
All nine Trinity starters scored at least one run, eight of them had at least one hit, and eight of them had at least one RBI.
Five different pitchers threw one inning apiece for Trinity, and they combined to strike out 13 and walk four. The Cougars also turned a double play in the third inning.
“We didn’t play over the weekend with it being so cold, and we had a rain out earlier in the week,” Tabeling said. “We’ve got a doubleheader this weekend and we wanted everyone to get an opportunity to do a little throwing off the mound, and we went with everyone throwing one inning.
“That gave everyone an opportunity to pitch, keep their arm loose and alive, but not enough pitches that they’re not available this weekend.”
The Cougars are off to a start at 6-0, and Tabeling is pleased with the team effort his team has put forth.
“Our defense is there. I’m really happy with our overall communication in talking with each-other. We’ve had good plate appearances and our pitchers have been throwing strikes. At this point we’ve been doing a lot of things extremely well,” Tabeling said.
“We ask our players to stay focused on that, and realize how hard they’ve been doing the little things, and doing those right because they pay off in a game. So far the coaches are really happy with the amount of effort and energy that the players are putting in the game.”
The Cougars will face host Lanesville at 10 a.m. Saturday and then face Barr-Reeve in the second game with Lanesville and Barr-Reeve to follow.
The Tigers (0-4) will host Springs Valley for a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 11 a.m.