Trojans topple Titans, 2-1
Michael Lindsey..HP Enterprise
GREENSBORO — Every team faces the occasional bump in the road. But Wesleyan Christian baseball showed the resolve that good teams do to get right back on track.
The Trojans, following their first loss of the season, scored the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Nick Boles to overcome an early deficit and edge West Forsyth 2-1 in the third-place game of the Farm Bureau Invitational on Saturday at Greensboro’s First National Bank Field.
“We’ve hit the ball well all year, against good opponents and bad,” Wesleyan coach Scott Davis said. “This was a team that, obviously, their right-hander was crafty. He was working us away and had a little cut on his sink, on his fastball. You just have to keep grinding, get guys on base.
“You try to get positive counts and then move a runner over with a bunt – which is what we did. We didn’t have many hits, but we were able to get the run at the right time. So, I was excited that we did it at the bottom of the order, which was encouraging.”
The Trojans (16-1), who lost to public school power Southeast Guilford 2-1 in the semifinals Friday, scored in the fourth on an RBI double to deep left-center field by Caleb Cozart to even the score 1-1 after the Titans scored in the third on an error and sacrifice fly.
Wesleyan opened the seventh with a single up the middle by Brett Kerry, followed by a walk by Matt Nusdeo and a sacrifice bunt by Mark McLamb to move the runners to second and third with one out. Boles, an occasional call-up from the J.V. team, then lofted a fly ball to right that scored Kerry.
Luke Davis (5-0) closed out the bottom half with a 1-2-3 inning to earn the complete-game win. He allowed one unearned run on six hits while striking out four and walking none. His biggest challenge came in the sixth with two on and one out, but he worked free with a fly-out and strikeout to preserve the tie.
“It’s great, especially coming off a loss yesterday,” said Luke Davis, a senior right-hander and Louisburg recruit. “Most teams could come out here today and roll over, accept the loss and not come back from it. But the way we came back from it, especially with a good game like this,was strong.“With me, I just like to get ahead,” he said of escaping the sixth. “And when I get ahead, good things happen — like contact, good ground balls, and we’ve got a good defense behind me. So, yeah, really getting ahead and my stuff was working tonight, so I was able to hit my spots.”
Jackson Prillaman and Nick Caldwell each added a hit for the Trojans, the reigning NCISAA 3A champions. Scout Cox had two hits for the Titans (12-6), the NCHSAA 4A champions in 2014, while Zach Brinkley had a double and a sacrifice fly. Andrew Upton took the loss, striking out six and walking three.
Wesleyan, which will have six conference games in its fi nal seven regular-season games, will open PACIS 3A play Tuesday at Forsyth Countr y Day before hosting the Furies on Thursday at Ed Price Field.
“Every year in this tournament, you’re going to play two and sometimes three really good teams,” Coach Davis said. “Last year we lost two out of three because we played really good teams. This year we won two out of three, and two years ago we won it. “It helps us because it’s right here before conference. So, we go into the conference on a good note. And then down the stretch we’re sitting in pretty good shape because we’ve played some pretty good competition
Michael Lindsey..HP Enterprise
GREENSBORO — Every team faces the occasional bump in the road. But Wesleyan Christian baseball showed the resolve that good teams do to get right back on track.
The Trojans, following their first loss of the season, scored the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Nick Boles to overcome an early deficit and edge West Forsyth 2-1 in the third-place game of the Farm Bureau Invitational on Saturday at Greensboro’s First National Bank Field.
“We’ve hit the ball well all year, against good opponents and bad,” Wesleyan coach Scott Davis said. “This was a team that, obviously, their right-hander was crafty. He was working us away and had a little cut on his sink, on his fastball. You just have to keep grinding, get guys on base.
“You try to get positive counts and then move a runner over with a bunt – which is what we did. We didn’t have many hits, but we were able to get the run at the right time. So, I was excited that we did it at the bottom of the order, which was encouraging.”
The Trojans (16-1), who lost to public school power Southeast Guilford 2-1 in the semifinals Friday, scored in the fourth on an RBI double to deep left-center field by Caleb Cozart to even the score 1-1 after the Titans scored in the third on an error and sacrifice fly.
Wesleyan opened the seventh with a single up the middle by Brett Kerry, followed by a walk by Matt Nusdeo and a sacrifice bunt by Mark McLamb to move the runners to second and third with one out. Boles, an occasional call-up from the J.V. team, then lofted a fly ball to right that scored Kerry.
Luke Davis (5-0) closed out the bottom half with a 1-2-3 inning to earn the complete-game win. He allowed one unearned run on six hits while striking out four and walking none. His biggest challenge came in the sixth with two on and one out, but he worked free with a fly-out and strikeout to preserve the tie.
“It’s great, especially coming off a loss yesterday,” said Luke Davis, a senior right-hander and Louisburg recruit. “Most teams could come out here today and roll over, accept the loss and not come back from it. But the way we came back from it, especially with a good game like this,was strong.“With me, I just like to get ahead,” he said of escaping the sixth. “And when I get ahead, good things happen — like contact, good ground balls, and we’ve got a good defense behind me. So, yeah, really getting ahead and my stuff was working tonight, so I was able to hit my spots.”
Jackson Prillaman and Nick Caldwell each added a hit for the Trojans, the reigning NCISAA 3A champions. Scout Cox had two hits for the Titans (12-6), the NCHSAA 4A champions in 2014, while Zach Brinkley had a double and a sacrifice fly. Andrew Upton took the loss, striking out six and walking three.
Wesleyan, which will have six conference games in its fi nal seven regular-season games, will open PACIS 3A play Tuesday at Forsyth Countr y Day before hosting the Furies on Thursday at Ed Price Field.
“Every year in this tournament, you’re going to play two and sometimes three really good teams,” Coach Davis said. “Last year we lost two out of three because we played really good teams. This year we won two out of three, and two years ago we won it. “It helps us because it’s right here before conference. So, we go into the conference on a good note. And then down the stretch we’re sitting in pretty good shape because we’ve played some pretty good competition
