TROY ROUTS CENTERVILLE, 13-5
April 4, 2015 By Josh Brown Troy Daily News
TROY — A pregame ceremony — and some first-inning defense — gave the Troy baseball team plenty of momentum. Not that the Trojans needed any extra motivation, though, given the team in the opposing dugout.
After honoring the 1990 Trojans, who made it farther than any other Troy baseball team has in the postseason by reaching the state semifinals that year, Troy (2-0) scored four first-inning runs before Centerville was even able to record an out and then put the game away with a six-run fifth, cruising to an impressive 13-5 victory Saturday at Market Street Field.
“Seeing those guys (from the 1990 team) come back here today, I think it put some things in perspective for the guys,” Troy coach Ty Welker said. “That, and it’s Centerville. Your got to be able to get up to play them. Two years ago, we spoiled their postseason (by knocking them out in the sectional title game), so those guys don’t like us, motivation-wise. And we’re fine with that.”
Starting pitcher Jared Bair got some help from his defense to start the game. After an error allowed the Elks’ (3-2) leadoff hitter to reach, the next batter grounded out sharply to Ryan Lavy at first base, who then threw to shortstop Zach Thompson to complete a double play. Bair then got a called third strike on the next hitter to bring Troy up.
A scorching single by Lavy to lead off and a double by Trenton Wood off the fence in left-center put runners in scoring position in the blink of an eye, and Collin Moeller quickly cashed in with an RBI single. Alec Demore then hit a grounder to first, but Centerville’s first baseman threw home instead of touching the bag — and Wood beat the throw to make it a 2-0 game.
A wild pitch moved the runners to second and third, and Dalton Cascaden drove in another run with an RBI single. The Elks made a pitching change — with their starter not recording an out in the game — and Bair drove in another run on a groundout to make it a 4-0 game.
“It’s always nice to get four runs without an out in the first,” Welker said. “We went out and swung the bats today.”
Centerville scraped together a run in the second, but Troy answered with two of its own in the third, scoring one on a throwing error on a bunt attempt and another on a sac fly by Thompson. A balk with runners on the corners in the bottom of the fourth brought home another run, and Troy led 7-1.
Bair, meanwhile, gave a solid effort, allowing only one hit and leaving four runners stranded through the first four innings. After getting the first two outs in the fifth, though, he walked a pair and gave up a three-run homer to Blake Zeller. Jordan Peck finished off the inning for him, getting out of a bases-loaded jam to preserve a 7-4 Troy lead.
Bair gave up three hits in 4 2-3 innings, walking four, hitting one and striking out five.
“This was Jared’s first time facing live hitters outside this season,” Welker said. “He’s pitched in the gym, but we’ve been rained out the other times he was supposed to throw. This was a good first outing for him.”
And after the Elks got back into the game, it just gave Troy the extra motivation to knock them out for good.
Two walks and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases to start off the Trojan fifth, and Lavy came through again by lacing a two-run single up the middle. A wild pitch and a throwing error in an infield-fly situation brought home two more runs, and Dalton Cascaden capped off the inning with a two-run double that gave Troy a 13-4 lead.
Lavy had a huge day at the plate in the leadoff spot, going 3 for 3 with a double, a walk, two RBIs and two runs scored.
“Ryan hit the ball really well,” Welker said. “We still don’t have that typical leadoff-type hitter, so Ryan’s been doing the job since he gets on base. He gave us the momentum and got everyone going today.”
Centerville got a run back in the top of the sixth, but Alec Demore came in to slam the door shut with a one-two-three seventh to finish off the game.
It was a solid early-season win for Troy, which was a regional semifinalist a season ago. Centerville lost in the district championship game to Moeller, while the Trojans’ season ended the next week at the hands of Mason in the regional semifinal round.
Troy kicks off Greater Western Ohio Conference North Division play with a Monday-Tuesday series against Greenville, hosting the Green Wave on Monday.
Trojans top Wave, 3-1
April 7, 2015 By Joshua Brown Troy Daily News
TROY — Trenton Wood made a big first inning by the Trojans stand up.
The senior pitched a complete game two-hitter against Greenville Monday, striking out 14 and walking only one in a 3-1 Troy victory to kick off Greater Western Ohio Conference North Division play at Market Street Field.
Wood was also 2 for 2 with a double and a run scored, Zach Thompson was 2 for 3 and Collin Moeller was 1 for 3 with a two-run triple in the top of the first as Troy (3-0, 1-0 GWOC North) scored all three of its runs in the bottom of the first.
I was a little disappointed in our offensive approach,” Troy baseball coach Ty Welker said. “We swung at a lot of his pitches instead of waiting for our pitches. We had two of our six hits in the game in that first inning, and we couldn’t string together anything else. But Trenton threw well and worked out of some tough spots.
“We were just happy to get the game in before the rain came.”
The teams weren’t as lucky Tuesday, as the series finale at Greenville was postponed. It will be made up today, weather permitting.
Troy wins 10th straight
April 16, 2015 By Josh Brown Troy Daily News
TROY — As nice as 10-0 sounds, Troy baseball coach Ty Welker wasn’t worried about hearing it.
“We’re worried about West Carrollton now,” he said. “We’re taking it one game at a time and not looking back. The guys’ mindset has been in a good place all season. We’re going to face some adversity at some point, going to lose a game or something like that, and I’m anxious to see how the kids respond when faced with that.”
Of course, that doesn’t have to happen anytime soon.
“Oh, I can wait a long time for that,” Welker added with a laugh.
Trenton Wood made sure to keep him waiting.
The Troy senior shut down a potent Beavercreek offense, scattering five hits, walking none and allowing only one earned run, tossing the third complete game by a Troy pitcher in four games this week in a 7-1 Trojan victory — the team’s 10th straight to begin the season — Thursday at Market Street Field.
Wood struck out five in the game, including Branden Williams — the Greater Western Ohio Conference’s leading hitter — twice. Williams, who entered the game with a .636 batting average, went 0 for 3, with two of those at-bats coming with a runner in scoring position.
“What a game he pitched,” Welker said of Wood. “He got out of a couple of tough spots, threw the ball real well. Williams, you won’t see a better hitter than him all year. Trenton threw him a lot of fastballs in, and I don’t think he’s used to being challenged like that. Trenton did a great job today.”
He got plenty of run support early, too.
After Beavercreek (6-3) went down one-two-three to start the game, Josh Fulker led off the Troy half of the first with a single and stole second base. The Beavers got the lead runner on a Ryan Lavy grounder, though, but Wood followed with a single and the runners were balked to second and third with one out.
Collin Moeller came through, blasting a two-run triple over the center fielder’s head, and Zach Thompson made it a 3-0 game by ripping a two-out RBI double off the fence in left.
“We’ve had a lot of first innings like that,” Welker said. “Unfortunately, sometimes we have the habit of taking the foot off the gas when we get those, and we did that today. We left a lot of guys on base after that, too many guys. We went after a lot of pitches that weren’t ours, and our approach kind of went south after that first inning.”
A pair of walks loaded the bases with two outs in that first inning, but Beavercreek was able to get out of the inning without any further damage. Troy then left a runner stranded on second in the second inning, runners on second and third in the third and runners on the corners in the fourth, stranding a total of nine runners in the game — six in scoring position.
The Beavers, meanwhile, scraped together a run in the fourth thanks to the speed of Nick Massey. Massey singled and stole second, then came in to score on a single by Jackson Buck to make the score 3-1. Buck then took second on a passed ball, still with no one out, but Williams lined out to Thompson at short, then Wood got a casual flyout and a strikeout to get out of the jam.
A two-out double by Corey Jordison in the fifth led to nothing for Beavercreek, but Massey led off the sixth with a single and stole second again. This time, though, Wood got Buck to fly out to center, punched out Williams looking and got a grounder to third to keep the score at 3-1 Troy.
And the Trojans sealed it in the bottom of the sixth
Hayden Kotwica and Fulker hit back-to-back infield singles to start the inning, then Lavy pulled an RBI single to right to make it a three-run game — also taking second as Beavercreek tried to get the out at third on the play. Wood ripped a single down the line that brought home two more runs, and he alertly took second on the play, as well, as no one covered the bag. An RBI grounder by Alec Demore made it a 7-1 game — more than enough breathing room for Wood, who finished the game with a one-two-three seventh.
“It was good to see us get four runs and bookend the game with big innings like that,” Welker said. “We had some good baserunning in that inning, too, that helped out a lot. We’d like to be able to spread out the runs, get one per inning and not leave guys on, but we’ll take seven against a good team like Beavercreek.
“That is a quality program and a really good baseball team.”
Troy, now 10-0, will look to keep its winning streak going today at home against West Carrollton before heading to Tippecanoe on Saturday.
When it matters
April 18, 2015 By Josh Brown Troy Daily News
TIPP CITY — The Trojans don’t like to dwell on missed chances or what could have been.
“You always think about your next time up,” Troy baseball coach Ty Welker said. “We missed plenty of chances early on. But some guys that we really needed to stepped up when it mattered most.”
Ryan Lavy hit a two-out game-tying single in the top of the seventh inning that forced extras, then Hayden Kotwica and Shane Zwierzchowkski hit back-to-back two-out RBI singles in the eighth to propel Troy to a thrilling 4-2 victory Saturday afternoon at Tippecanoe over the county rival Red Devils.
It was Troy’s second win in as many days in come-from-behind fashion in its final at-bat. Friday, it defeated West Carrollton 6-5, scoring a walk-off run in the bottom of the seventh. The win also made the Trojans a perfect 12-0 on the season and gave them momentum heading into Monday and Tuesday’s critical Greater Western Ohio Conference North Division series against rival Butler.
“Down 2-1 in the sixth, you’re sitting there thinking ‘well, what if things don’t go our way today? How will the guys react?’” Welker said. “But you know what? To come back and win a game like that, that gives us a lot of momentum and a lot of confidence mentally. Sure, there were some situations where we had execution issues. But when it mattered, the guys came through again.”
For Tippecanoe (6-5), it was another case of missed chances on offense, as well.
“It’s just a repeat, the same stuff we’ve been going through,” Tippecanoe coach Bruce Cahill said. “We had 16 popouts and flyouts. That’s more than five innings’ worth. If you don’t make them make plays, hit it on the ground and maybe they boot it … this is probably one of the worst offensive stretches I’ve seen.”
Through the first six innings, both teams struggled with runners in scoring position, with Troy going 0 for 8 and Tippecanoe going 1 for 6, with the Devils’ hit being a bunt that loaded the bases and didn’t bring any runs in. But Troy managed to get a run in the first inning on a one-out RBI sac fly by Collin Moeller — and that 1-0 lead stood until the bottom of the fifth thanks to both pitchers, Troy’s Jared Bair and Tippecanoe’s Justyn Eichbaum, doing a stellar job.
Eichbaum went the first 4 1-3 for Tippecanoe, striking out six and allowing only one hit but walking three and hitting one. Dalton Hodge pitched the next 1 2-3 innings, walking one and striking out two.
Bair, meanwhile, gave the Trojans six strong innings, allowing three hits and three walks while striking out four in a no-decision.
“Jared’s kind of been our hammer,” Welker said. “He’s thrown against Centerville, Northmont, now Tipp — and I don’t know if he’s done the math, but he’s likely getting Moeller on Thursday, too. He threw a great game for us today, and he’s provided a lot of bang for our pitching staff.”
In the fifth, though, the Devils were able to take the lead on a controversial play.
With the bases loaded and only one out, Brandon Gotthardt hit an RBI sac fly to right. But Mitchell Fischer — who had been going from second to third on the play — got tangled up with Troy’s third baseman as he went to round the bag, and he was awarded home plate to give Tippecanoe a 2-1 lead.
“It was an awkward situation, but there’s always something that’s in your control to not put yourself in those situations,” Welker said. “Maybe it even sparked us a bit.”
That lead held up until the seventh, as Hodge and Bair pitched one-two-three sixths. In the seventh, facing Tippecanoe’s Aaron Hughes, Bair drew a walk to start the inning, stole second and took third on a groundout for the second out. But Lavy pulled a sharp single to right to even things up, and Kotwica came on in relief and pitched a one-two-three seventh to force extra innings.
And in the top of the eighth, Alec Demore singled with one out, stole second with two outs and took third on a wild pitch. Dalton Cascaden drew a walk to put runners on the corners, then Kotwica lifted an RBI single to left-center to put the Trojans on top. Zwierzchowski followed that by lining an insurance RBI single to left, and Kotwica set the Devils down in order in the bottom of the inning to post the win.
“Kotwica, a sophomore, threw a couple of great innings for us and got a big hit,” Welker said. “We stayed hot and scored early again, but then we backed off. But the guys battled. We’ve won games in pretty just about every way possible during this stretch.”
The Trojans will look to continue that against the Aviators, kicking off the series at Butler on Monday.
Trojans win on Senior Day
Troy run-rules Carroll, 10-0
May 2, 2015 By Josh Brown Troy Daily News
TROY — Troy started slow Saturday.
Once they got going, though, the Trojans never stopped.
The Troy baseball team (16-3) won its fifth straight Saturday, scoring three runs in the third, fourth and finally the bottom of the fifth to post an impressive 10-0 victory over visiting Carroll Saturday on Senior Day at Market Street Field.
The Trojans sent their nine seniors — Dalton Cascaden, Alec Demore, Josh Fulker, Ryan Lavy, Collin Moeller, Zach Thompson, Trenton Wood, Shane Zwierzchowski and the injured Anthony Shoop — off with a big win. And they did so in the fashion the Trojans have used all year — with everyone contributing here and there.
“If you look at the league’s stats, we have five or six guys with 10 or more RBIs — and not one guy with more than 20,” Troy coach Ty Welker said. “That’s what makes us a solid team. It’s not just one guy that’s carrying us. Everyone is pulling their weight.
“All of our seniors played, but they’ve contributed all year long, too. They’ve done a nice job all season, and they did well today.”
Cascaden had an RBI double in the game and Thompson also doubled as Troy went scoreless in the bottom of the first, took a 1-0 lead after two and then continued to pile on. Demore led the way by going 2 for 2 with two RBIs, and Fulker, Lavy and Zwierzchowski each added an RBI, as well.
Hayden Kotwica went the distance on the mound, throwing a two-hit shutout while striking out three. The defense was solid behind him with only one error.
“We played a nice defensive game. They hit a lot of fly balls,” Welker said. “And we haven’t really had a game like that where we started slow scoring then kept putting up runs in every inning. We fought and clawed each inning and just didn’t stop.
“It was a great way to send our seniors out.”
The win sets up a showdown series to cap off Greater Western Ohio Conference North Division play on Monday and Tuesday against Piqua, with the Trojans hosting the Indians to kick it off on Monday.
Trojans, Indians split
Piqua blanks Troy in series finale
May 5, 2015 By Josh Brown Troy Daily News
PIQUA — For only the third time this season in Greater Western Ohio Conference North Division play, the Troy baseball team couldn’t mount a comeback.
For the first time this season, they couldn’t mount anything at all.
Following a 9-1 rout of rival Piqua on Monday at home, the Trojans faced the Indians on the road in the series finale Tuesday — and Piqua starter Michael Anderson held them to only four hits and the Indian defense made plays to get out of jams, handing Troy (18-4, 7-3 GWOC North) its first shutout loss of the season, 2-0 in Piqua.
“We hadn’t been shut out all year,” Troy coach Ty Welker said. “Hats off to their pitcher, he threw well. Everything that happened in the game, we did to ourselves.”
On Monday, the Trojans rode a five-run first inning to a 9-1 victory over the Indians.
Jared Bair provided another big blow late to seal it, going 2 for 3 with a home run and three RBIs. Collin Moeller was 2 for 3 with a double and two RBIs, Trenton Wood was 2 for 3 with two RBIs and Josh Fulker added a double.
Ryan Lavy pitched 5 1-3 innings to get the win, striking out four and walking two. Nick Matney finished the final 1 2-3 innings as the duo combined to scatter six hits — all singles — and allow only one run in the fifth.
But on Tuesday, Anderson silenced those same bats.
“We just didn’t have an approach at the plate today,” Welker said. “Maybe our approach was to swing at 2-0 pitches. We had some swings that were just not impressive today.
“In the second, we had second and third with one out, and we expect to score. But we pop to short on a first pitch we shouldn’t have swung at. We have the bases loaded with one out in the fifth, we expect to score. But a couple of ground balls, and we get nothing out of it.”
Aside from a second-inning single by Dalton Cascaden — when Troy stranded runners on second and third — the Trojans’ only hits came in the fifth inning. With Troy down 1-0, Bair connected on a one-out single, Zach Thompson beat out an infield hit and Hayden Kotwica ripped another infield single sharply off the third baseman’s glove to load the bases with only one out.
But a meek grounder to the catcher that stayed fair allowed Piqua’s Brayden Dohme to step on home plate and keep the score tied. Lavy then hit a grounder to short and was out by half a step to end the inning.
“We’ve got them loaded, got a guy on third with one out, why not hit it to the second baseman and at least score one? Why are we swinging at a pitch like that out of the zone?” Welker said. “We just didn’t have an approach.”
Piqua (11-12, 5-5 GWOC North), meanwhile, had its own problems against Troy’s Trenton Wood, leaving three runners stranded over the first two innings to keep the score tied 0-0.
But in the bottom of the third, the Indians capitalized on a couple of defensive miscues. Travis Smith reached second on an error and Austin Davis walked, but a popped-up bunt and a shallow flyout to right kept the runners in place. Noah Gertner then hit a foul pop that was dropped by the first baseman, giving him a second chance — and he promptly blooped a ball into center that a diving center fielder couldn’t come up with, scoring Smith to make it 1-0.
The Indians got an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth as Davis was hit by a pitch and eventually driven in on an RBI single by Derrick Gullett.
Wood finished with a complete-game four-hitter.
“When Wood throws, we expect to be in every game,” Welker said. “He battled out of some tough spots. But defensively, we kicked the ball around a little bit. We had an error at short, that dropped foul pop, the drop in center … everything was self-inflicted tonight.
“That’s not to take away credit from what Piqua did. They battled and scrapped and played hard. There’s just no excuse for how we played. We’re better than that.”
Troy — which earned the No. 2 seed in the Division I sectional draw over the weekend — returns home Friday to face Fairmont, the No. 3 seed, in a potential sectional final preview.
Moeller’s slam propels Troy to 8-2 win
May 14, 2015 By Josh Brown Troy Daily News
TROY — Collin Moeller missed his chance in the first inning.
He didn’t let that happen again when he got another shot.
“I took a fastball right down the middle that I should’ve swung at the first time,” he said after striking out with the bases loaded early in Thursday’s game against Centerville. “The next time, I saw a pitch in the zone that I thought I could pop up for a sac fly. I just hit it a little farther than that.”
After the Elks had tied the score in the top half of the inning, Moeller belted a grand slam to put the exclamation point on a six-run fifth by the Trojans to take the fight out of 11th-seeded Centerville as No. 2 Troy (21-5) defeated the Elks 8-2 Thursday at Market Street Field in the Division I sectional tournament to advance to its third straight sectional title game.
Moeller entered the day in a tie for the lead in the Greater Western Ohio Conference with four homers on the year. After his latest, he was mobbed at home plate by jubilant teammates.
“He’s put a few over the fence this year,” Troy coach Ty Welker said. “I had this vision in my head before he came up, but still. With the bases loaded, I was just thinking please put it in play. And boy, did he.”
“Obviously, that one is a little more important than the other ones,” Moeller said with a smile.
And any fight the Elks (13-14) had left at that point, starter Trenton Wood took care of. After a rough patch in the fourth and fifth innings where Centerville was able to squeeze through two unearned runs, Wood shut them down the rest of the way, retiring the final eight batters he faced to seal the win — including an impressive diving catch by Hayden Kotwica in center field to kick off the seventh.
“He struggled a bit in the middle innings, got behind some hitters, we made some errors,” Welker said. “But I was most impressed with how he finished. Once Centerville tied the game up, he really buckled down and threw well from there. He finished strong. His last two innings were his strongest.”
Wood finished with eight strikeouts — including the final two batters of the game — and gave up only one walk and five hits. Troy committed an error in four consecutive innings, as well, including miscues that helped the Elks push across their only two runs.
The Trojans started the game strong, too. Josh Fulker led off with a walk, a one-out error put runners on first and second and Alec Demore drove in the game’s first run with a single. Dalton Cascaden walked to load the bases, but Moeller struck out for the second out. Zach Thompson drew a walk, though, to give Troy a 2-0 lead after one.
“We’ve been that team all year. We put up runs in the first inning,” Welker said. “In the second, third and fourth, though, we kind of let their pitcher take charge. The guys have to learnt o be patient and not go after the pitcher’s pitches. We’ve got to wait for ours.”
Centerville starter Bryan Luna sat down 10 straight hitters from there, and the Elks took advantage, getting a run on an RBI groundout by Matt Stoner in the fourth and an RBI single by Blake Zeller in the fifth to tie the score.
That only served to revitalize the Trojans.
Kotwica led off the Troy half of the fifth with a single and was bunted to second by Fulker. A Ryan Lavy single put runners on the corners, and Wood drove an RBI single through to put Troy back on top. An error by the Elks’ catcher on a pickoff attempt at second base allowed another run to come in, and back-to-back singles by Demore and Cascaden loaded the bases up for a second time for Moeller with one out.
Moeller wasted no time, jumping on a first-pitch fastball. The only doubt was whether or not the ball would stay fair, and it hung inside the pole to make it an 8-2 game.
“We can score runs pretty quickly once we get started,” Welker said. “We probably shouldn’t have waited until the fifth to do it, but that’s a credit to their pitcher in those middle innings. Still, we’ve just been that kind of team all year.”
Troy left runners on second and third in that inning — and ended up stranding five for the game — but enough damage had already been done with Wood on the mound as Centerville went down meekly one-two-three in the sixth and seventh to end it.
The Trojans will now faces No. 3 Fairmont at Beavercreek in the sectional championship game.
Troy falls in district final
May 23, 2015 By Josh Brown Troy Daily News
Lebanon — The district title game was all about control.
Mason took it early, and Troy could never get it back.
The Comets — who the Trojans lost to in last year’s regional semifinal round — took charge with five runs in the top of the first inning, and that’s all starter Andy Marzheuser needed in a fairly dominant effort as Troy simply couldn’t ever get any momentum in a 10-2 loss in the Division I district championship game Saturday at Lebanon Junior High.
“Balls just bounced different ways, not ours,” Troy baseball coach Ty Welker said. “We always tell the guys to control the things that are within our reach, to focus on those, and not to worry about the things we can’t control.”
Despite the final result, though, the Trojans finished off an impressive season. Troy went 21-7 on the year and won its third straight sectional championship along the way.
“We’ve got nothing to be ashamed of,” Welker said. “We won 22 games, won our third straight sectional. These guys have nothing to hang their heads about.”
The Trojans got a chance for payback against Mason, which ended their season 5-0 in last year’s regional semi, but it just wasn’t in the cards.
And that became clear early on.
Mason drew two straight walks to start the game, then Tyler Krabbe hit an RBI single back up the middle. After Troy starter Ryan Lavy got a strikeout for the first out, another walk loaded the bases. Troy couldn’t turn an inning-ending double play, and Vince Vanelle ended up with an RBI fielder’s choice to keep the inning going. A bloop RBI single by Ronnie Engleman, a run-scoring error on another potential inning-ending ground ball and another bloop RBI single by Logan Williams later, Mason had batted around and held a 5-0 lead.
“We walked a couple guys, they had some dinks and bloops for base hits,” Welker said. “Things just didn’t go our way early. And we ended up with five errors in the game, too — we just can’t do that. We’re better than that. When things get out of hand early like that, you’re going to struggle.”
Marzheuer, meanwhile, cruised. He gave up a walk in the first and another in the second, but Troy didn’t get a runner to second base through the first four innings — in which the Comets’ starter had eight of his 11 strikeouts.
“He’s obviously one of the area’s best,” Welker said. “At this level of the tournament, you’re going to see pitching like that no matter who you play against.”
The Comets, meanwhile, tacked on two more runs —one of them earned — in the top of the fourth on back-to-back sac flies by Dylan Bryan and Krabbe. And in the fifth, a leadoff double by Nick Northcutt, back-to-back RBI singles by Engleman and Marzheuser and yet another error that led to an RBI hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded by Krabbe made the score 10-0 Mason and put Troy in danger of being run-ruled — and possibly even no-hit at the time.
Collin Moeller took care of the first concern, leading off the bottom of the fifth with a sharp single. And Zach Thompson yanked the run-rule worries off the table, too, by blasting a no-doubter to left for a two-run homer to make it a 10-2 game.
Relievers Nick Matney and Jordan Peck kept Mason off the board from there, but the Trojans couldn’t get anything going on their end, either. A walk by Lavy and a single-and-error by Alec Demore put runners on the corners with one out in the sixth, but Marzheuser got a pair of shallow fly balls, and Troy couldn’t edge closer. And in the bottom of the seventh, John Robbins came in to close out the game, setting Troy down in order.
It was the final game for nine Troy seniors — Cascaden, Demore, Josh Fulker, Lavy, Moeller, Thompson, Trenton Wood, Shane Zwierzchowski and Anthony Shoop — and their absence will be felt after everything they’ve meant to the team.
“Three of those guys — Lavy, Wood and Moeller — have been up with us for all three of these sectional titles,” Welker said. “That was the plan back when they were sophomores, to be able to do this. They’ve meant a lot to our program. All nine of our seniors have.
“All of our seniors have contributed so much to the team, whether you see it on the field, in practice, doing fundraising work. The effort that these nine guys have put into the program, into helping our young players, they’re just all great guys and they will be missed.”
© 2023 Troy High School Baseball