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BASEBALL: Lahser gets the best of Troy

Dan Stickradt | May 8, 2012 | Comments (1)

BY JAKE LOURIM

STUDENT CORRESPONDENT

BLOOMFIELD HILLS — In a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the bottom of the seventh inning with the winning run 90 feet from home plate, Troy senior pitcher Tyler Horne didn’t have to think.

“That wasn’t one that you think about,” Horne said. “You just react and make the play.”

Horne made a spectacular play on the mound to take Troy to extra innings at Bloomfield

Hills Lahser, to be played Tuesday in a OAA White Division baseball game. Lahser won Game 1, 2-1.

That play ended the second game of the doubleheader at 4-4 through seven innings, and it was called on account of darkness. The teams will be back at Lahser Tuesday at 4:30 to finish the game.

Horne relieved injured starter Michael Thomas in the sixth inning of the nightcap, and found himself in quite a jam in the seventh. He gave up a leadoff double, then intentionally walked

Lahser’s No. 3 hitter to set up the force. Lahser’s sacrifice bunt moved the runners over, followed by another intentional walk to load the bases with only one out.

Lahser’s Patrick Monahan sent a 1-1 pitch rocketing back at Horne. Horne threw home for the force, then catcher Matt Oppenlander threw low to first for the double play. Senior first baseman Nick Guitar had to scoop it out of the dirt and throw it back home again for the tag for the third out.

“He bailed me out a little bit,” Horne said. “He’s a gutsy kid,” Ellis added of his late-inning pitcher.

That frenzy brought the entire team out of the dugout screaming with joy, as it staved off Troy’s fifth straight league loss.

“I’m glad we’re still breathing,” Troy coach Jim Ellis said.

“We’re still playing; that was a tough situation to be in. I think the percentages of getting out of that alive are not very high, but we’ll take it. We’re still fighting.”

They might not be if not for the play of junior Kevin Simono. Making a spot-start at second base, Simono went 3-for-3 with three of Troy’s six hits and three of its four runs.

Junior Justin Losey’s RBI double and singles by Guitar and senior Luke McCloskey were the only other hits.

“Kevin got an opportunity to play today, and that’s what you want to see,” Ellis said. “You want your guys who don’t get a lot of playing time, when they get in there, to contribute.

That’s what he did today, and the next time he’ll get a little bit more confidence.”

Thomas pitched five more strong innings, bolstering his outstanding 2012 campaign. He gave up three runs on seven hits, walking only two with 77 pitches.

Thomas gave up his first home run of the season in the third inning, when Lahser’s Riley Manz went deep to left field for a two-run shot. Besides that, Thomas was relatively solid.

He had to come out of the game early when Manz came up in the fifth and hammered a line drive into his leg.

“He was a little bit up in the zone today, he made a bad pitch there, and the kid punished him for it,” Ellis said. “But he’s been throwing for us all year in clutch situations, and we have confidence in him. He’ll be alright.”

Troy senior pitcher John Wassel also pitched stellar in the first game, but his effort was wasted. Wassel pitched all six innings with four hits, two runs (one earned), and eight strikeouts, a season-high.

“I was just feeling good today,” Wassel said. “Monday against (Bloomfield Hills) Andover didn’t go so well for me, and I guess I just battled back today. My arm was feeling good, I got a lot of zip on my fastball, and my slider was working.”

Wassel devastated Lahser hitters with his slider, which he said he just started throwing this off-season. He rebounded from a 10-0 loss to Andover.

But for the fifth straight league game, Troy couldn’t manage more than a run. Junior Jake Provenzano drove in the only run with a sacrifice in the fifth inning, but the Colts were otherwise unable to capitalize on ten walks.

“Just poor plate approaches,” Ellis said. “We’re taking too many strikes. We’re letting pitchers get ahead of us, they’re throwing first-pitch strikes on us, getting us in bad counts, and we’re not aggressive.”

Troy left the bases loaded with walks in the second, third and fifth innings, despite not managing a hit until the fourth.

Lahser dealt Troy its eighth strikeout of the game, leaving the tying and go-ahead runs at second and third in the seventh.

“(Eleven) people left on base — a recipe for disaster when you lose by one run. We had some opportunities out there, and we left them there.”

Guitar and junior outfielder Damon Gaudino singled for Troy’s only two hits of the first game.

Wassel said it’s becoming a mental issue at this point.

“It’s more a mental game now,” he said. “We’ve just got to be smart hitters, swing at good pitches, and if you put the ball in play, you’re going to get some hits.”

“You have those stretches where you either strike out or you put the ball in play and they’re just right there. Once you get that ball in the gap, it feels so good that you just roll from there.”

Box Score – Game 1

BLOOMFIELD HILLS LAHSER 2, TROY 1

W – Krentz (Lahser) – 2 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, 44 NP

L – Wassel (Troy) – 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R (1 ER), 2 BB, 8 K

T 000 0100 – 1 2 3

BHL 100 010x – 2 4 0

Box Score – Game 2 (To Be Continued)

To Be Resumed in Top of 8th at 4:30 Tuesday

T 001 0201

BHL 102 0010

(Jake Lourim is a junior at Troy High School and part of the AdaVan Media Group’s Student correspondence Program.He can be reached by email at j.lourim@comcast.net)