Five-run fifth inning leads Trojans past Wildcats
Heading into Tuesday night's game at Hillsboro against a victory-starved Moundridge Wildcat team, two things were eating away at Trojan coach Phil Oelke.
He was worried that his team might be fatigued and flat in the field.
There were plenty of reasons to be concerned.
After all, the Trojans had to salvage a split Monday night at top-10 power Lyons.
Throw in the 50-mile trip west and a 6-3 win in the opener and the 8-2 loss in the nightcap, there was a good possibility that Monday left the Trojans low on fuel.
The Trojans must have found a gas pump nearby as they run-ruled the Wildcats in the opener, 11-1, behind a two-hitter from Layne Frick.
Hillsboro has had an enigma when it comes to doubleheaders, and ironically, it's always been the second game that kicks back.
It very much looked like Oelke and the Trojans would still have to listen to the talk that they can't sweep a competitive team with the Wildcats erupting for six runs in the first inning.
But Hillsboro silenced the critics with a five-run fifth inning that helped nip the Wildcats, 8-7.
"We'd certainly like to be playing better than we played tonight," Oelke said, "but when you take away the big inning that they had at the beginning, they didn't do too much to us."
The Trojans improve to 12-4 on the year and 8-4 in the daunting MCAA.
The first inning provided a quick start for both teams with the Trojans jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the opener.
Batting fourth out of all nine batters the Wildcats faced in the first inning, James Bina gave the Trojans a 1-0 lift with an RBI double.
Bina was a thorn in the Wildcats' paws, going 3 for 5 on the night and a game-high six RBIS with five coming from home runs.
Jerod Metcalf went deep for a two-run blast which left the Wildcats in a 4-0 jam.
Ronn Coates capped off the five-hit five-run first with an RBI double.
Frick kept the Wildcats' offense on ice, holding them to a pair of hits through four innings.
Bina got his first home run of the day, a two-run in the bottom of the fourth, which pushed the lead to 7-0 before Coates drove in a pair of runs with a base-hit.
Oelke has been taking applications for the Trojans' pitching rotation, and he hired Steve Chisholm to close the opener's fifth inning.
"We're trying to get some other pitchers involved than just the three or four," said Oelke. "We threw Chisholm.
"He was pretty tight in the first game when he closed, but he got the job done."
An error at second base finally got the Wildcats on the board in the fifth, 9-1, forcing two runs for the Trojans to win the game early.
Andy Brubacher's sacrifice fly left Hillsboro one run away from the 10-run rule in the bottom of the fifth.
The Wildcats' right fielder gave the Trojans their final run, bobbling a single from Frick.
The first inning of the nightcap was the Wildcats' turn to strike quickly and they did it off Chisholm.
Moundridge bolted out of the gate in a hurry, taking a 3-0 lead off a three-run home run.
The Trojans' deficit grew to 4-0 with the Wildcats scoring on an error at first base.
Chisholm left in the first inning, leaving reliever Shawn Hughbanks in rough waters when he came on.
The Wildcats got two more runs from an RBI single and an RBI double to lead 6-0 after one-half an inning.
Hillsboro's offense stalled out, going hitless for the first two innings.
Hughbanks dodged what could have been a catastrophic third inning as the bases were loaded with no outs.
The Trojans escaped the inning with the Wildcats taking only a 7-0 lead from a single.
Hillsboro's offense finally got into gear in the third inning with Bina taking an 0-1 pitch deep for a three-run homer.
From a pair of hits, the Trojans were on the attack, down 7-3.
Metcalf was called on for relief in the latter half of the fourth inning, and he held the Wildcats to two hits.
Still clinging to the 7-3 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning, the game came apart for the Wildcats with a one-out bases-loaded situation for Hillsboro.
Frick pulled the Trojans to 7-5 with a two-run single before Kris Jones singled for the 7-6 score.
Making the loss a harder one for the Wildcats to swallow, they spotted the Trojans the tying and go-ahead run with blunders.
"We struggled on the mound the second game," Oelke said. "We walked a lot of guys, and we didn't want to use Metcalf tonight, but we had to."
The Trojans face arguably their biggest test of the season Friday at home in a rematch of last year's semifinal game of the Class 3A state tournament against the defending state champion and fifth-ranked Wichita Collegiate Spartans.
Nickerson
Oelke said that the Trojans would be satisfied with a split April 16 against the hosting MCAA stalwart Nickerson Panthers, and that was what they got.
Hillsboro's uncanny trend of winning the first, but slipping in the second repeated itself with the Trojans winning the first slugfest, 15-14 and dropping the finale, 12-11.
In perhaps their best hitting performance of the season, the Trojans racked up 32 hits with 20 coming in the opening game.
The first game was highlighted by a grand slam from Graham Ratzlaff in an eight-run third inning.
Dustin Jost went 3 for 4, including a triple, driving in four RBIs.
The Trojans fell behind 3-0 in the first inning and never fully recovered in the nightcap.
Coates drove in a solo home run, but Hillsboro stayed one run in back of the Panthers the entire night.
