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Troy erupts to blast rival Athens

Dan Stickradt | May 11, 2011 | Comments (0)

COLLISION: Troy catcher John Wassel blocks the ball and Troy Athens's Sam Koelzer from the plate during Monday's OAA Red Division clash. Staff Photo | Dan Stickradt

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

TROY —Troy was never mentioned in the talk about which teams will be in the OAA Red Division baseball chase this season. The Colts have proven otherwise.

Troy put an 18-8 beating on visiting rival Troy Athens Monday in a game that last six innings. The win not only avenged an earlier season loss to the Red Hawks, but it knocked Athens into a first-place tie with Lake Orion and Clarkston with two losses apiece in league play.

Troy, Rochester and Rochester Stoney Creek all have three losses and Auburn Hills Avondale four entering the final three weeks of the regular season. Seven of the nine teams are mathematically in the league race.

“We have won seven of our last eight games,” smiled Troy coach Jim Ellis. “I think that has everything to do with me knowing the personnel more, knowing the pitching staff and what the best lineup is. Being a first-year head coach and the fact that we didn’t get a lot of games in during April or a lot of (outdoor) practice time kind of slowed that.

“We are just trying to hang around and see what happens,” added Ellis. “We see that we can compete.”

Athens (8-4, 5-2) suffered its only lopsided defeat of the season.

“We pulled to within 10-8, then Troy just took it to us,” admitted Athens coach Mike Morris. “Everyone has (at least) two, three losses in this league now. I kind of expected that. I knew there were some great teams in this league.

“We beat Rochester, and Rochester beat Lake Orion, and Troy beat Rochester and we beat Clarkston, a team that beat Lake Orion. Get the picture?” added Morris. “It’s a dogfight. Stoney Creek even beat Troy, 16-0. Just about anybody can beat anybody.

“This was just one of those days where ball were just flying out. Troy was smoking them,” continued Morris.”We had a few homers as well. They just outplayed us in this one.”

Leading 10-8 heading into the top bottom of the sixth, Troy put up eight runs in the frame to end the game on the 10-run mercy rule. The Colts pushed single runs across in the first and third innings and tacked on four runs in the fourth and four more in the fifth before the sixth-inning eruption.

CHIN MUSIC: Staff Photo | Dan Stickradt

Nick Krajewski blasted two home runs, including a three-run shot, and finished with four RBI for the Colts. Peter Gebara added a three-run home run and finished 2-for-3 with a walk and scored three runs, while John Wassel was 3-for-4, including a three-run homer, and scored three times for Troy (8-6, 5-3).

Dan Essian pitched five innings for the win. Normally the team’s catcher, Essian is gaining innings on the mound as teams in the league are playing 3-5 games a week.

“He’s dabbling and he had a good outing out there today,” said Ellis. “He’s contributing, consistently throwing good innings. He’s not our ace, but we don’t need him to be. We just need for him to keep us in games. We can hit.”

Athens scored two in the third, two in the fifth and four in the sixth.

Anthony Carrillo suffered the loss for Athens after pitching four innings. The Red Hawks trailed 6-2 at the time of his departure.

Tommy Eng was 1-for-3 with a two-run home run, Sam Koelzer added a home run and two RBI and Chris Harris was 3-for-3, scored twice and had an RBI for the Red Hawks.