BASEBALL: Thomas outduels Pontiac’s Cole, sends Troy to district semis
BY JAKE LOURIM
STUDENT CORRESPONDENT
TROY — Pontiac’s baseball team wouldn’t normally come to mind as a strong program, but it rolled into Troy on Friday with junior pitcher Dazon Cole and his mid-80s fastball.
As it turned out, it would take more than just one player to beat Troy. The Colts picked up their 15th win in the past 16 games behind some disciplined hitting against Cole and a strong outing by senior pitcher Michael Thomas (6-2), who won his fifth straight start.
Cole, who has committed to Central Michigan, was a major threat on a Pontiac team that finished 7-11 in the OAA Gold Division, the fourth of four divisions.
The game started on Thursday, but when Cole hit Troy senior Drew Braun with a pitch, junior Drew Majewski singled up the middle and Braun scored on an overthrow at third base, a thunder delay postponed the game until Friday.
“We saw a lot of pitches,” Troy coach Tim Mullen said. “We got his pitch count up high in the second inning. The fact that we got to see it, relax, go home, visualize it, then come back to it, I thought that helped us a lot.”
Senior Justin Losey drove in the second run with a sacrifice fly to put the Colts up 2-0, but Pontiac scratched out a run in the bottom of the second, making it clear that the pre-district game would be a dogfight.
Cole’s fastball was faster than any other Troy has seen this season, but starting in the second inning, the Colts were prepared. As it often does, it took them some time to get going, but once they did, they scored two in the second, one in the fifth, three in the sixth and finally two in the seventh off Dazon Cole’s brother, reliever Deshawn Cole.
“It was just disciplined hitting, not being intimidated,” Thomas said. “We were seeing him, and we know we have good wings. We’ve been throwing the pitching machine at a higher level.”
As Thomas and Cole matched strikeouts with their strong fastballs, one of the major differences between the teams was discipline. Thomas methodically mowed down the Phoenix with several first-pitch strikes, needing only 99 pitches to get through six innings.
“He was locating pitches and getting them out,” Mullen said. “Through the first three innings, they really didn’t have any solid hits. Toward the end, they had three or four really solid hits — that’s why we made our change in the seventh.”
Cole, however, threw at least two balls to 16 of the 32 hitters he faced, totaling a pitch count of 135 through six innings. (Twenty-six of Cole’s pitches and 11 of Thomas’ pitches were on Thursday.)
Troy also committed no errors in the field except for a pickoff error, while Pontiac made four errors and three passed balls, one of which scored Losey in the sixth to put the Colts ahead for good.
“When you’re in a close game, the little mistakes come to be huge,” said junior closer John Hunter, who pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning in just seven pitches to ice the win.
“After a long layover, you wonder how it’s going to affect you,” Mullen said. “We haven’t had a meaningful game in about 10 days. We thrive on competition, when our backs are up against the wall.”
Although the rain delay split Thomas’ outing into two days, it poses a pitching problem for Troy. The original plan was to have Thomas pitch on Tuesday and Thomas and junior Nick
Panella — who together have won six straight starts—on Saturday. Now, Thomas will not be available Saturday because of the rain postponement.
Mullen expects to pitch Panella Saturday morning at 10 a.m. against Troy Athens. Troy has beaten Athens by scores of 9-6, 8-1 and 15-5 this season.
Then, he will likely throw junior Josh Dubay, who last pitched four scoreless innings in a comeback win over Bloomfield Hills Andover, in the final if Troy wins. The final would be against the winner of Rochester Adams and Auburn Hills Avondale. Hunter will be available for either game.
“I feel like I have a starter’s endurance,” Hunter said. “If I need to go three innings in the first game and in the second game go three more, I can do it.”
Hunter will now enter Saturday with a 2-0 record and an ERA of 0.37.
“This year, I wanted the role of closing,” said Hunter, who also has two saves. “You need to do your job. You only have to get three outs. You don’t have to worry about pitch counts. Nerves don’t really get to me. I just focus on the task at hand.”
Helping out the young pitchers will be a powerful Troy lineup that has scored seven or more runs in 15 of the last 16 games, all wins. Senior catcher Mitch Weigand went 3-for-3 with two runs out of the seventh spot in the lineup on Friday. Senior Justin Losey went 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs, filling in at right field for senior Damon Gaudino, who is still recovering from a shoulder injury he sustained two weeks ago at a tournament.
BOX SCORE
Troy 020 0132 – 8 11 0
Pontiac 010 0210 – 4 8 4
W – Thomas (6-2) – 6 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 6 K, 99 NP
L – Cole – 6 IP, 8 H, 6 R (3 ER), 2 BB, 5 K, 135 NP
(Jake Lourim is a senior at Troy High School and a member of the S.H.P. Media Group / www.northoaklandsports.com Student Correspondence Program. He is publisher of website www.troycoltsportsupdate.com and a member of the Troy school newspaper editorial staff. He can be reached by e-mail at j.lourim@comcast.net)
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