Men’s Baseball
Baseball and softball were in action on Wednesday, with the Men hosting Fulton Montgomery Community College from New York at Trojan Field at J.P. Riddle Stadium. Another in a line of a wet, grey days was a day to turn things around for a win. The Trojans came away with a 14-8 win in a shortened game that ended in the 7th inning.
The Trojans got on the board in the 1st inning, taking a 2-1 lead but could not stop the Raiders who took advantage of the Trojans miscues to extend an 8-2 lead after the top of the 4th inning. This time, the Trojans responded early in the game and hit the ball, as well as forced the Raider defense to make mistakes. They were able to put up 5 runs and reduce the deficit to 7-8.
Bo Bodine took the mound in the 5th inning and shut down the Raiders. He went the final 3 innings to get the win with 2 innings facing only 3 batters. He picked off one Raider at first and really shined on a dreary day.
In the 6th inning, the Trojans came alive with 2 outs. Strong batting through the order and one huge Raider error led to a 7-run inning with 10 Trojans coming to the plate. This was a team win and the first of the season. There will be more to come!
However, the weekend was not when the next win would come. The Trojans head to Lenoir Community College to face the Lancers. They were able to mount good offense in the two games but had a poor fielding inning in each game that sealed their fate. They were swept in both games, 4-12 and 1-6.
Sunday opened better, as the Trojans were able to mount a strong offense in the final innings, scoring 4 in the last 3 frames. Unfortunately, their hopes were dashed with a strikeout with bases loaded in the ninth to lose 4-5. The Trojans are playing better and need to play a complete game, and the wins will start to come.
Women’s Softball
The Softball team headed to Myrtle Beach to face Ocean County College (OCC) of New Jersey for a double header. The Trojans had to work hard to stay strong as a team to continue their road-series winning streak. With strong pitching and timely hitting, they did just that, as the swept OCC in 2 games. This is 4 wins in a row for the Lady Trojans on the road.
Ashley Loftin struck out 11 in the first game, and Hayden Smith hit a few doubles to keep the women rolling in the first game. Loftin worked the outside of the plate to keep OCC off balance and gain the 5-3 win.
In the second game, Dominique Brown did not yield a walk and forced OCC batters to hit. Again, Smith led the way with strong hitting through the order. The Trojans gained a 1-2 win in 6 innings to close out Ocean County.
Coming home has not been kind to the Lady Trojans, as they faced defending regular season champs Florence-Darlington Tech (FDTC) of South Carolina. The three games did not go well for the Lady Trojans, as they gave up too many unearned runs and could not force the Sting to work hard on defense. The Friday games was a 12-3 loss.
Saturday opened with great promise, as the Trojans jumped out with 2 runs in the 1st inning, forcing a pitching change. Unfortunately, this was short lived, as the errors mounted and so did the FDTC score. Ashlee Naylor hit her second grand slam of the year and pulled the Trojans to 6-9 in the 5th inning. The Trojans eventually fell 8-13, as they could not stop the Sting’s hitting.
The last game seemed to follow the same script. Naylor hit a monstrous homer, but the Trojans couldn’t field the ball cleanly and lost 2-14 in 5 innings to stay winless at home.
This past week was a roller coaster rider for the Trojans, with wins and losses for both teams.
Coming up this week:
Baseball
Wednesday, March 27th at Barton, one game – time TBA
Saturday, March 30th at Brunswick Community College, 1 & 4 PM, Supply, NC
Sunday, March 31st at Brunswick Community College, 12 noon, Supply, NC
Softball
No games this week