BASEBALL: Rochester Adams halts Troy winning streak in district final, 5-2
BY JAKE LOURIM
STUDENT CORRESPONDENT
TROY— Troy’s baseball team just kept waiting for that dependable big inning against Rochester Adams.
But it never came. The Highlanders’ pitching made sure of that.
“I was expecting it to happen at some time,” Troy coach Tim Mullen said. “We kept getting good at-bats, and I was waiting, waiting for something good to happen, and it just never materialized, that big inning we needed.”
Adams set the tone for the district final with five runs in the first inning and never looked back, handing Troy just its second loss in the past 18 games, 5-2.
Troy was scheduled to play a pre-district game Tuesday and then the semifinal and final Saturday. The Colts would send senior ace Michael Thomas to the mound for the pre-district game and one of the Saturday games, and junior Nick Panella would pitch the other game.
But Mother Nature had other plans. The rain pushed the Tuesday game back to Thursday and then to Friday, so Thomas wasn’t available on Saturday after pitching Friday. That meant Troy junior Josh Dubay would battle Adams co-ace Mike Surinck in the final.
In the first inning, the Highlanders gave Surinck a cushion that was never really threatened. Dubay walked the bases loaded with one out in the first. One run scored on a balk, and the other two reached home on a double in the gap. Adams seniors Jack Twitty and Surinck each hit RBI singles to bring home two more runs, and Adams led 5-0.
“Josh has been good for us all year,” Mullen said. “He came out, and he just didn’t have his best stuff the first inning. He struggled a little bit, couldn’t find the strike zone, walked a few guys and then it was really just a few hits on their part and the wheels fell off a little bit.
To his credit, he came back, he settled down and he put a whole bunch of zeros up on that board.
“Realistically, we should have gotten those bats working after that. If you would have told me before that they were going to score five in this game, I would have felt somewhat comfortable with that, thinking, OK, we can get six or seven runs here.”
Dubay settled down after the first inning, needing just 58 pitches to get through the next 4 1/3 innings before giving way to junior John Hunter. He gave up only one-out singles in the second and sixth innings during that time, scattering three walks.
“We were really patient early on and got a couple big hits, and then our approaches weren’t very good,” Adams coach Jeff Hall said. “(Dubay) did a good job of keeping us unbalanced and on our front foot. Luckily, we had a big first inning today.”
The Highlanders stayed sharp defensively the entire game, committing only one meaningless error in the fourth. Surinck commanded his pitches effectively and threw several first-pitch strikes.
“We did a good job today of getting some guys on base. I think the one thing that was maybe different was that (before) we were able to string a lot of hits together at one time. Today they were more spaced out,” Mullen said. “We had a guy or two on base just about every inning, but we just didn’t get that big rally going. I think they did a good job of not shooting themselves in the foot.”
Surinck was nearing the 120-pitch mark entering the seventh, but with a three-run lead, Hall sent him out for the final inning and Surinck needed only 10 pitches.
“Defensively, we played well. They hit the ball on the ground and we made plays,” Hall said. “When we’ve done that this year, we’ve done pretty well, and when we haven’t, we’ve given up some runs. We’ve been playing really well the last two weeks.
“Really, it comes down to the pitcher. We can call pitches, but he’s just got to execute. He kept their hitters off-balanced, and he threw pitches for strikes all game.”
Hunter hit a one-out single in the seventh, but Troy senior Drew Braun hit a popup in foul territory near third, and Adams went over to get it just inside the fence.
That sent the Highlanders out of the dugout into a dog pile on the infield grass, and the Colts into a scene of tears and emotion that lasted well past the trophy ceremony.
Troy had come into the district final on a tear, scoring seven or more runs in 16 of its previous 17 games and winning every single one of them. The Colts split the OAA Blue championship with Berkley, and just hours earlier, they had defeated rival Athens for a fourth straight time, 13-5.
“We believed we could win here, and we expected to win,” Mullen said. “I think we expected to go on and compete for one more week. I think that’s tough for everyone.”
Adams, however, had also come in strong. The Highlanders (17-18) had won three of their four previous district tournaments, and although their record hovered around .500 all season, they played top teams such as Birmingham Brother Rice and U-D Jesuit in the nonleague schedule in addition to an OAA Red slate that featured Lake Orion and Clarkston.
“We don’t duck anybody,” Hall said. “It’s all about playoff time. We play the best competition around.”
Led by a powerful lineup and senior co-ace C.J. Borglin, the Highlanders clubbed Auburn Hills Avondale 13-1 in the second semifinal.
Troy will return a strong core of its team, including three of its top four hitters — center fielder Alex Marshall, pitcher/third baseman Nick Panella and Hunter at pitcher, shortstop and third base. Junior Drew Majewski became a solid threat in the middle of the lineup after hitting a home run at Berkley, and sophomore Erik Papandrea will have half a season of experience in the middle infield.
Some pieces, however, will be hard to replace. Seniors Mitch Weigand and Kevin Simono started every game at catcher, and seniors Justin Losey and Damon Gaudino played nearly every game in right field and sometimes left field. Thomas will also graduate after anchoring the pitching staff for two full years.
“I told them to keep their heads up and be proud of what they did this year,” Mullen said. “We’re starting to turn this program around and put it in a direction that we want to, and they’re instrumental in that. The seniors are part of the turnaround of this program and getting it back to where people know we’re a good baseball team year in and year out.”
Junior Paul Johnson had shoulder surgery in the off-season and tore his hamstring midseason, but could play first base in place of departing senior Braun if he’s healthy. Juniors
Corey Klindt, Blake Belgeri and Jake Parrett will help Panella and Dubay on the pitching staff.
BOX SCORE
Troy 020 0000 – 2 6 0
Adams 500 0000 – 5 5 1
W – Surinck – 7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 6 K
L – Dubay (3-2) – 5 1/3 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 6 BB, 0 K
(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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