2019 NEWS ARTICLES
Troy to rely heavily on experience
Trojan baseball returns 11 seniors this season
March 21, 2019 By David Fong Troy Daily News
This year, the Troy baseball coach is hoping that spark ignites a full-fledged conflagration.
“The interesting thing about this senior group is that we knew when they were freshmen they were going to be a pretty strong group,” Welker said. “And they’ve been that way all the way through the program. This is a group we anticipated good things from when they were young, so we kind of set it up to be the way it is this year — we got them up (to varsity) early and got them experience early.”
A senior-laden squad — 11 of the 14 players on the varsity roster — will be graduating later this spring. Of those 11, seven are returning letterwinners from last season. Welker said the Trojans will hope to lean heavily upon that experience as they defend the Greater Western Ohio Conference American League North Division co-championship they shared with Tippecanoe last season.
Anchoring the pitching staff will be three-year starter Cole Brogan. Last year, Brogan went 6-1 with a 1.27 earned run average and 34 strikeouts in 44 innings pitched. Joining him in the starting rotation will be seniors Ethan West, Braeden Snider and Jakob Liebcap. Senior Matt Bigley also will pitch in a relief role.
“Brogan is a three-year starter who has been our No. 1 or No. 2 guy for couple of years now,” Welker said. “You could say he’s the ace of our staff. He’ll be pitching in a lot of big games for us this year. Ethan West has had a nice spring. Braeden Snider and Jakob Liebcap will be out there fighting for innings, as well. Matt Bigley is a kid who will pitch relief, but will still get some important innings in big games. We feel pretty good about this staff.”
Behind the plate for the Trojans will be senior Grant Gariety and junior Quenton Shepard.
“That’s a fight for the starting spot right now,” Welker said. “They are really pushing each other right now. They’ve both got some big shoes to fill with Keiran Williams graduating. They are both working hard; the one who is hitting is probably going to be the one who is in the lineup.”
Snider will make the move from right field to first base for the Trojans. West and Liebcap also could see time at first base. With all three in the pitching rotation, who is playing first likely will depend upon who is on the mound that day.
At second base will be senior Austin Kendall. Last season, Kendall hit .348 with 14 runs batted in and four stolen bases. At shortstop will be Brogan on days he isn’t pitching. Also seeing time at shortstop will be senior Jacob Adams and sophomore Caleb Fogarty. Last season, an arm injury forced Adams into strictly a designated hitter role. He was brilliant at DH, hitting .383 with 19 RBI, five doubles, two triples and 10 stolen bases. Now fully healthy, he’ll also get the chance to play in the field for the Trojans.
“We probably have four really nice middle infielders who could start for most teams,” Welker said. “Austin Kendall had a tremendous year last year. The unique thing about Adams is that he can play just about anywhere, which makes him a little more versatile.”
At third base will be Bigley, a three-year starter. Last year Bigley hit .273 with 10 RBI and three doubles. Should he be called on to pitch, both Adams and Fogarty are capable of playing third.
In the outfield, Adams likely will man center field, while junior Weston Smith could play center or left field. In right field will be some combination of West and seniors Luke Severt, Nate Henderson and Sam Shaneyfelt
.
“Having Adams and Smith out there really shrinks the outfield with their speed,” Welker said. “They were both starting defensive backs on the football team. This is probably one of the most athletic outfields we’ve had here.”
With so many experienced pieces in place, Welker is hoping for another shot at a division title and a possible deep run into the postseason — but knows there’s still work to be done.
“These guys know the guys who came before them have built up the expectations for this program,” Welker said. “Surely we aren’t looking past anyone. These guys have all been around for awhile and have played in some big league games and tournament games. Our schedule is as tough as anybody’s. These guys know they are going to have to come ready to play every day, because all it takes is one letdown and you’re in trouble. We’re looking forward to the season to see what we can do.”
Troy’s West shuts out Wayne
Trojans walk away with 13-0 win in opener
March 27, 2019 By David Fong Troy Daily News
TROY — When Troy needed to be aggressive, it was aggressive.
When the situation called for patience — which it often did — the Trojans were patient.
The only thing the Troy baseball team didn’t need to, thanks to Ethan West’s performance on the mound? Worry.
West pitched a four-hit shutout Wednesday in Troy’s season opener at Market Street Field against Wayne, striking out eight Warriors — five of them looking — and only walking one, while the Trojans benefited from 13 walks and two hit-batters by the Wayne pitching staff in a 13-0 victory.
West, a senior, never gave Wayne (0-1) a chance from the start, striking out the side in the top of the first on three called third strikes. And after a leadoff single by Wayne in the second led to a runner being on third with only one out, West buckled down and got a strikeout and a flyout to escape the jam.
Wayne then got the first two runners on in the top of the third and advanced them to second and third on a sacrifice bunt, but West got a swinging strikeout and another called third strike to keep the Warriors off the scoreboard. And in the fourth, second baseman Austin Kendall and shortstop Cole Brogan turned a double play to erase another leadoff single and keep the shutout going after four.
And after an eight-run fourth inning by the Troy offense that kept him waiting for a half hour to get back on the mound, West finished things off in the fifth to record the shutout.
“What can you say about Ethan West? He came out and threw a nice game,” Troy coach Ty Welker said. “He had eight strikeouts, only walked one — he threw well. He did what we asked him to do and threw a complete-game shutout.
“Ethan stayed focused,” Welker said. “He had guys on third with less than two outs a couple times, and he worked out of it.”
It could be an important performance for West, too, given the Trojans (1-0) are still looking for a No. 2 starter to back up ace Brogan once the home-and-away Greater Western Ohio Conference American North Division series begin next week.
“We’re still looking for that No. 2 guy, that Monday-Tuesday guy, and Ethan had a nice outing today,” Welker said. “We need two guys (for division series). West had a nice outing tonight, and we believe Braeden Snider and Jakob Libecap can compete for that spot, too. I feel like we’ve got to have that second guy, and West did a nice job tonight.
“Last year, we had Derek McDonagh and Cole Brogan. Two years ago, it was Hayden Kotwica and Brogan. This year will be an opportunity for somebody to step up — and what a great start for West to be able to do that.”
Troy’s offense, meanwhile, made sure that the defense never had to stress out, either.
The Trojans took the lead for good with a two-out rally in the bottom of the first. Jacob Adams reached on an error and quickly stole second, then West drew a walk and both runner moved up on a wild pitch. Adams scored on another wild pitch, then Caleb Fogarty sent an RBI single back up the middle to give Troy a 2-0 lead early. Troy then added onto that lead in the second with a bases-loaded RBI walk by Brogan with one out, but back-to-back strikeouts put an end to that threat and kept it a three-run game.
Fogarty then beat out an infield single to lead off the third, and Snider followed that by ripping an RBI triple the other way to the fence in left. Libecap then drove Snider in with an RBI groundout, and the lead was 5-0 after four.
“All spring and in our scrimmages, we’ve scored runs without seeming to do a whole lot offensively, but we do,” Welker said. “We don’t swing at stuff out of the zone, we’re very patient at the plate, we run the bases very well, we put the ball in play when we need to. All those things that we have to do to score runs, our guys do what it takes.
“We had good at-bats. There were a couple situations where we had guys in scoring position and didn’t execute, so that was one thing. We sat on too many fastballs then. But … it’s day one, the first time seeing competitive pitching, and I thought we were patient.”
And that patience certainly paid off in the bottom of the fourth.
Wayne’s pitchers issued eight walks and hit two batters in that half-inning alone, with Fogarty and Matt Bigley each driving in a run on a bases-loaded walk and Adams scoring on a wild pitch for the second time in the game. Libecap added a two-run single — the only hit in the inning — and Adams drove in a run on an RBI groundout as Troy put the game away with a lengthy, slow and methodical inning.
“We always talk about how we have to worry about us and not the other team,” Welker said. “I think we executed today. We only gave up two free passes, we had 22 quality at-bats — we hit our goals on all of those things. We feel real positive about today.”
For the day, Fogarty was 2 for 2 with two RBIs, Libecap was 1 for 3 with three RBIs, Snider tripled and had an RBI and Brogan, Adams and Bigley each had one RBI.
Troy remains at home Wednesday, hosting Chaminade Julienne — the defending Division II state champion — before going on the road Saturday to Graham. The Trojans open division play Monday at Greenville to kick off a two-game series.
Troy baseball tops CJ
Trojans knock off defending D-II state champ
March 29, 2019 By David Fong Troy Daily News
TROY — With the defending Division II state champion coming to town Thursday, the Troy baseball team focused on taking care of its own business.
And take care of it the Trojans did.
Jacob Adams hit a three-run home run in the first inning to give control to Troy, the Trojans strung together a couple more runs and Cole Brogan did the rest on the mound, holding off a late rally by Chaminade Julienne in a 5-4 victory Thursday at Market Street Field.
The win improved Troy to 2-0 on the season, while the Eagles fell to 2-1.
“We don’t care about who is in the other dugout. We just focus on playing our game, and if we do that, we feel like we can compete with anyone out there,” Troy coach Ty Welker said.
Troy’s game involved longball early on, as Adams’ homer put the Trojans up 3-0 after one. Troy manufactured runs in the second and fourth innings to take a 5-1 lead, but the Eagles fought back in the final two innings, trailing 5-2 after six and scoring a pair of runs in the top of the seventh. But Brogan — who went the distance to get the win — recorded all three seventh-inning outs on strikeouts, including the final one with the potential tying run on second base.
“Jacob’s home run helped a lot, got us rolling,” Welker said. Then we manufactured a couple runs on a sac fly by Nathan Henderson, and the other on a single, a stolen base and scoring on a ball that didn’t even get out of the infield. That’s just the kind of team we are, and we don’t try to be anything we’re not. We find ways to produce runs.
“Cole took care of things on the mound. It got close late, but he struck out the final batter with the tying run on second. He struck out the side in the seventh against some really good hitters.”
Brogan finished with six strikeouts and a walk, giving up four runs — three earned — on seven hits. Troy was outhit 7-5 in the game, with no Trojans tallying multiple hits. Adams had the home run and three RBIs, while Henderson and Weston Smith each had an RBI.
Troy travels to Graham for its first road game Saturday, weather permitting.
Troy baseball splits with Greenville
Brogan’s big day leads Trojans to 15-0 win, split with Wave
April 2, 2019 By David Fong Troy Daily News
TROY — When asked which felt better — the one-hit shutout he threw on the mound or his exclamation point of a grand slam to seal a run-rule victory — Troy’s Cole Brogan had the only correct answer.
“The win. The win feels better than anything,” he said.
Particularly after the previous night’s game.
After falling on the road at Greenville in its Greater Western Ohio Conference American North Division opener on Monday, the Troy baseball team bounced back in a big way Tuesday at Market Street Field, piling up seven runs in the first three innings and then stringing together an eight-run rally all with two outs in the fourth — punctuated by Brogan’s slam — and the senior did the rest on the hill to lead the Trojans to a dominant 15-0 run-rule victory in five innings.
Brogan struck out nine, walked none and allowed only two baserunners — an infield single by Warren Hartzell in the second inning and an error in the fifth — in a masterful performance, then he went 2 for 4 at the plate with a double, a home run and a total of five RBIs on Tuesday to help Troy improve to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in the GWOC American North. But that one loss is likely to sting the team for a while.
“The win was definitely the best thing today,” Brogan said. “After last night, we all had a bad taste in our mouth. After that, we needed to come out here and play like we can, and I think we did that. The win feels better than anything right now. We needed to get back on track.”
That’s because Monday, the Trojans fell victim to a two-run walkoff single by Greenville’s Hartzell in a 4-3 loss at Greenville to start the series.
Troy starter Ethan West put Troy in position to win, going 5 1-3 innings and allowing two runs on four hits while striking out nine, walking two and hitting two, leaving the game with a 3-2 lead. Jakob Libecap came on in relief and pitched 1 1-3 innings, striking out one, hitting a batter and allowing two hits — one of which was Hartzell’s two-run game-winner with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.
Offensively, West had two RBIs and Braeden Snider was 1 for 3 with an RBI as Troy plated three runs in the fourth inning to take a 3-0 lead — which was where things stood until the Green Wave finally got on the board with two in the sixth and then scored two more in the seventh.
Tuesday’s 15-run blowout didn’t do much to take the edge off, either.
“It doesn’t make last night feel any better, I’ll tell you that,” Troy coach Ty Welker said. “It actually probably makes us a little more upset, because we feel like that’s a game we should have had last night, as well. We expect a better offensive performance than we had last night.
“And we did. I thought we executed better today and adjusted. Guys put the ball in play, we took walks when they gave them to us. That’s the team we feel like we’re always going to be and expect to be.”
Troy jumped out in front Tuesday thanks to some timely hitting early. A leadoff double by Austin Kendall, a walk by Caleb Fogarty and a wild pitch led to a two-run single by Jacob Adams to start things off fast, then Adams scored on an RBI double by Brogan to make it 3-0 after one. In the second, Kendall led off again by reaching on an error, stealing second and taking third on a wild pitch, then Fogarty walked again and Kendall scored on a wild pitch that allowed Fogarty to move up two bases to third. Braeden Snider then capped off the inning with an RBI single to make the score 5-0 Troy. And in the third, Weston Smith doubled and Kendall walked, then Smith scored on a throwing error and Kendall was driven in on an RBI groundout by Adams that gave the Trojans a seven-run lead.
Greenville (2-3, 1-1 GWOC American North) appeared to slow Troy’s momentum in the bottom of the fourth, recording the first two outs, but then the Trojans put together a lengthy rally to put the game away. Grant Gariety doubled, Matt Bigley was hit by a pitch and Smith walked to load the bases, then Kendall and Fogarty drew back-to-back RBI walks to make it 9-0. Two runs then scored on an error off the bat of Adams to make it 11-0, and Snider walked to load the bases for Brogan — who promptly emptied them with a blast over the left-field fence.
“I’ve been struggling at the plate,” Brogan said. “I was just trying to help my team win, working on stuff and trying to get back in the groove. And the way things fell? Can’t complain about that.”
And Brogan finished things off in the top of the fifth, punching out two and not allowing a one-out error to amount to anything to record his second win of the year.
“It’s hard to say that you expect that every time out, but we expect him to do his job, and he did a nice job tonight,” Welker said. “He’s been working on his swing, too, so it was nice for him to get some positive offensive contributions, too.”
On the day, Kendall was 1 for 2 with a double and four runs scored in the leadoff spot, Fogarty had three walks and scored three runs, Adams was 1 for 4 with three RBIs, Snider was 1 for 3 with an RBI, Gariety doubled and scored a run and Smith doubled and scored two runs.
Still, as the Trojans go into Friday’s GWOC American League crossover matchup at Fairborn, the team knows that splitting with Greenville complicates things moving forward.
“We’re going to have to stay focused every night,” Welker said. “We feel like we’re one of the best teams in the division. To win that title, we always play one game at a time and have our fate in our own hands. Because you’ve got to go and try to beat Tippecanoe twice and Butler twice — does that mean we can split with those guys and still have a chance? Sure. Anything can happen. This just leaves less room for error now.
“Not to put too much pressure on us, but our goal is to always try to win the league, and to do that, we feel like we’ve got to win every game.”
But Tuesday, the Trojans seemed to figure out what it takes to be on that track.
“It feels great for us,” Brogan said. “We came together as a team tonight, didn’t have any letdowns, and through five complete innings, we played like we can — we played as a team.”
Troy baseball routs Fairborn and Tops Grosse Pointe South, MI
April 6, 2019 By Troy Daily News and Rob Kiser Piqua Daily Call
Troy Daily News
FAIRBORN/OXFORD — One blowout and one hard-fought win.
After a disappointing division loss to start the week, the Troy baseball team finished strong, routing Fairborn 17-3 Friday in Greater Western Ohio Conference American League crossover play and then holding off Gross Pointe South (Mi.) 2-1 Saturday at Miami University.
The two wins gave Troy three in a row and made the Trojans 5-1 overall, 2-1 in the GWOC American North, heading into a division series against Sidney Monday and Tuesday.
Against Fairborn Friday, the Trojans held a slim 4-3 lead after four innings before pulling away for good, scoring four in the fifth, three in the sixth and then six in the seventh inning to seal it.
Cole Brogan led the offensive, going 4 for 5 with a home run and three RBIs, Braeden Snider was 2 for 3 with a double and three RBIs, Matt Bigley was 1 for 3 with a double and three RBIs, Jacob Adams was 3 for 5 with two doubles and two RBIs, Ethan West was 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI, Sam Shaneyfelt was 1 for 1 with two RBIs, Austin Kendall was 3 for 4 with four runs scores, Caleb Fogarty was 2 for 4 and Jakob Libecap and Luke Severt each had an RBI.
Snider also got the win on the mound, allowing three runs on four hits and four walks while striking out four in 4 1-3 innings of work. Severt finished off the game, pitching 2 2-3 innings of relief, striking out one and only allowing one hit.
Things were a little more dramatic on Saturday against Gross Pointe South. After falling behind 1-0 after the first inning, Troy didn’t answer until the top of the fifth, plating two runs to take the lead and allowing the defense and pitching to do the rest.
Libecap got the win, pitching six innings and allowing one unearned run on four hits while striking out five and walking none. Brogan worked the seventh to record a save, striking out one, hitting two batters and recording the final out with the potential go-ahead runs in scoring position.
Jacob Adams was 2 for 3 with a triple and a run scored, Brogan was 1 for 3 with an RBI and a run and Bigley had an RBI, getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring in the eventual game-winner.
Troy travels to Sidney Monday to kick off the two-day series.
Monster inning propels Trojans
16-run 1st leads Troy to sweep of Sidney
April 9, 2019 By Josh Brown Troy Daily News
TROY — The Troy baseball team dealt with enough drama in Monday’s series opener at Sidney.
So the Trojans made sure there was none on Tuesday.
After a stressful and narrow 4-3 victory on Monday to begin the Greater Western Ohio Conference American North Division series, Troy sent 21 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first alone Tuesday against Sidney, scoring 13 runs before the second out had even been recorded and finishing with 16 runs before the Yellow Jackets’ second chance at the plate in a 17-2 victory at Market Street Field to complete the two-game sweep.
With the win — Troy’s fifth straight — the Trojans improved to 7-1 overall and 4-1 in the GWOC American North, while Sidney fell to 3-7 and 1-5 in the division with its third consecutive loss.
“Yeah, I’d say that (there was less drama today than the day before),” Troy coach Ty Welker said.
There was plenty of drama Monday as Sidney battled back to tie the score at 3-3 with a three-run bottom of the sixth, only to have Troy retake the lead in the top of the seventh and close it out in the bottom of the inning with the potential tying run on third base.
Braeden Snider was 2 for 4 with a double and three RBIs to lead the Trojans — including the RBI double in the top of the seventh that scored Jacob Adams with the eventual winning run — and Austin Kendall was 1 for 3 with two runs scored as Troy only outhit Sidney 6-4 in the game.
Matt Bigley pitched the seventh to earn a save, walking one — Trey Werntz, who stole both second and third base before a lineout ended the game. Ethan West started the game and pitched five innings of one-hit ball, striking out nine and walking four. Luke Severt pitched 2-3 of an inning and Nate Henderson got the final out of the sixth inning and was credited with the win in relief.
For Sidney, Werntz was 2 for 3 in the game and Collin Jones had two RBIs. Darius Boeke took the loss in relief, allowing two hits and a walk while striking out one.
On Tuesday, there was no doubt from the beginning.
Troy’s offense was on fire from the start, with Austin Kendall singling to lead off and Caleb Fogarty walking, followed by an RBI single the other way by Jacob Adams. After a double steal put runners on second and third, Braeden Snider hit an RBI groundout that made it a 2-0 game.
It would be a long time before the Jackets recorded another out.
Brogan walked and then Ethan West ripped an RBI single to left, then another double steal and a hit-batter loaded the bases. A wild pitch scored another run, and another walk sent Sidney making a call to the bullpen with the bases still loaded. Weston Smith was hit by a pitch to bring in one run and Kendall walked to bring in another, then Fogarty drove a two-run double over the center fielder’s head to make it an 8-0 game. Adams followed with a two-run single to make it 10-0 and advanced all the way to third base on the play to the plate, then Snider hit an RBI single to bring home Adams, and a walk and another hit-batter reloaded the bases, forcing Sidney to call on the bullpen again — still only with one out.
Sam Shaneyfelt promptly greeted the new pitcher with a two-run double to center, then two straight walks brought home another run before Kendall hit an RBI sac fly to left for the second out in the inning. Fogarty hit one more RBI single to make it a 16-0 game before Sidney finally got out of the inning.
“I liked our approach coming out offensively in that first inning,” Welker said. “We put the ball in play, we didn’t swing at balls out of the strike zone — we did all the things you want to do against anybody. And they only had one error in that inning, too, so we really scored all those runs on walks and hits.”
The first inning took 45 minutes to play, with the rest of the game taking 45 minutes to complete. And after all of that offense, Troy’s defense was a little shaky in the second inning.
“The tough thing is to stay focused,” Welker said. “We don’t want to disrespect the game. We told the kids to go up and have good at-bats, but we did stop running a bit. You try to keep competing, and the guys did. We lost a bit of focus in the next inning, but it’s tough.”
Ben Spangler reached on an error to lead off, Lathan Jones singled and Trey Werntz reached on an error to load the bases with no outs. Brogan got a pair of called third strikes and looked like he would get out of the inning with no damage, but Mitch Larger hit a two-out, two-run single to get Sidney on the board, trailing 16-2 after two.
“It’s tough for any kid, let alone high school kids,” Welker said. “I know Brogan’s probably a little disappointed in himself, and we made a couple errors behind him that didn’t help. He takes pride in what he does, and I think he felt like he let his guard down a little bit, and we also did defensively. It’s not the end of the world, but it’s a lesson learned to stay focused.”
Fogarty added an RBI double in the bottom of the third to make it 17-2, and Brogan did the rest. The senior retired the final 10 batters he faced, striking out 10 — six straight at one point — and allowing no earned runs on two hits and one walk.
Fogarty finished the game 3 for 3 with two doubles and four RBIs, Adams was 2 for 4 with three RBIs, Shaneyfelt was 2 for 3 with a double and two RBIs, Smith had two RBIs, Kendall and Snider were both 1 for 2 with two RBIs and West was 1 for 2 with an RBI. Overall, Troy outhit Sidney 10-2 and took advantage of a total of nine walks and four hit-batters.
Overall, the series was similar to Troy’s first division series against Greenville last week. After another close Monday game — a disappointing 4-3 loss — the Trojans, behind Brogan’s pitching, run-ruled the Green Wave 15-0 the next day.
Xenia holds off Troy baseball in crossover matchup
April 12, 2019 By Josh Brown Troy Daily News
TROY — The Troy baseball team’s second straight loss was a tough one.
The Trojans gave up six first-inning runs to visiting Xenia and couldn’t recover, falling 7-5 in what could prove to be a critical Greater Western Ohio Conference American League crossover defeat Friday at Market Street Field.
With the loss, Troy fell to 7-3 overall and 4-2 in the GWOC American North Division, now two games behind division leader Butler and one behind second-place Tippecanoe. Xenia, meanwhile, continues to lead the GWOC American South Division with a 4-1 record and is 12-2 overall, having won its sixth straight.
Jakob Libecap took the loss for Troy, giving up six runs on seven hits and one walk in one inning of work. Luke Severt pitched four innings of no-hit ball to give the Trojans a chance to catch up, striking out five and walking none, and Ethan West worked two innings, giving up one run on two hits and no walks while striking out three.
Severt also led the Trojans at the plate, going 1 for 3 with a double and two RBIs. Austin Kendall doubled and scored two runs, Cole Brogan scored two runs, Weston Smith tripled and Jacob Adams and Matt Bigley each had an RBI. But with the potential tying runs on second and third in the bottom of the seventh, a called third strike put an end to the game.
Troy travels to Miami East Monday.
Troy’s West shuts down East
Trojans snap skid, top Vikings 4-1
April 15, 2019 By Josh Brown Troy Daily News
CASSTOWN — After two straight narrow defeats, the Troy baseball team needed to get back track.
Miami East wasn’t about to make it easy, though.
Still, thanks to another solid outing by starting pitcher Ethan West and an explosive day at the plate by Cole Brogan, the Trojans snapped a two-game losing streak, topping the host Vikings 4-1 Monday at Miami East High School in non-league action.
“First of all, hats off to (Miami East). Those guys came out and played a great game,” Troy coach Ty Welker said. “Those guys came out to compete, and they did that.”
And while the Trojans improved to 8-3 on the season, Miami East — which split a doubleheader against a quality Madison team on Saturday and entered the game having won four of its last five games — fell to 7-8 on the year.
“We just came off beating the No. 4 team in the state (Madison), and we’re playing real well,” Miami East coach Dean Denlinger said. “Troy is playing real well right now, too, though. We’re playing a pretty tough schedule — I think we’re playing seven teams ranked in the state, and we have a solid conference, too.”
In the end, though, Troy’s West turned in yet another solid Monday outing — only this time he got credit for it. Two weeks ago, he had to watch the bullpen be unable to hold a lead in a 4-3 loss at Greenville, and last Monday he left the game before the Trojans rallied in the seventh to claim a 4-3 win at Sidney.
“Ethan has thrown a great game the last two Mondays, as well — he just hasn’t gotten the victory for them,” Welker said. “He finally got the win for it. He’s done a nice job. He’s pitched with confidence, and he wants the ball. All of the things we needed to see out of him this year, he’s done. What a great performance by him today.”
Monday, West was on his game yet again, pitching six innings and allowing only one run on three hits, three walks and a hit-batter while striking out nine. Matt Bigley pitched a one-two-three seventh, striking out two to earn a save.
“Ethan West pitched a good game,” Denlinger said. “He had good control, and we stranded nine runners, so that didn’t help. We haven’t struck out more than six times in a game all season, but we did 11 times today. Ethan just had good control and kept us off balance.”
And this time, West got run support from the start, too.
In the top of the first, Brogan ripped a one-out double to the deepest part of the field in center and moved to third on an infield single by Jacob Adams. Braeden Snider then hit an RBI sac fly to center, putting Troy on top 1-0. And in the second, Sam Shaneyfelt reached on an error to lead off, Nathan Henderson walked, both runners moved up on a wild pitch and Grant Gariety drove in a run with an RBI groundout to make it a 2-0 game.
Brogan finished the game 3 for 4 with two doubles, a run scored and an RBI, driving in pinch hitter Luke Severt with a two-out single for an insurance run in the sixth inning that gave the Trojans a 3-1 lead at the time. And the Trojans cashed in a leadoff double by Snider in the top of the seventh, with Bigley ripping a two-out RBI double down the third-base line that made the score 4-1.
“Cole’s been swinging better,” Welker said. “We moved him up in the lineup, and he’s been hitting the ball on a line more and less in the air.”
Tipp routs Troy, 11-0
Red Devils kick off series with big win
April 22, 2019 By Josh Brown Troy Daily News
TROY — The Tippecanoe baseball team may have been excited after run-ruling division rival Troy Monday.
But coach Bruce Cahill was quick to bring his players back down to earth.
“I just got done telling them that it’s one game. It only counts as one game. And they run-ruled us at our place last year after we beat them here,” Cahill said. “You don’t get two wins for a run rule. You’d better come back tomorrow.”
“They’ve beat us on our field the last couple years, in fact,” Cahill said. “We’ve just got to come back tomorrow and put together a solid effort again, like we did today.”
The Red Devils — the lowest-scoring team of the three teams battling for the Greater Western Ohio Conference American North Division title entering the day — certainly put together a solid game on Monday, jumping out to a seven-run lead after two innings and giving starting pitcher Kenten Egbert plenty of support to finish off an 11-0 shutout of the Trojans in five innings at Market Street Field to kick off a critical two-game division series.
Tippecanoe (11-5, 9-1 GWOC American North) had been averaging only 5.8 runs per game coming in and had only hit double digits three times on the season, while Troy (10-4, 5-3 GWOC American North) had given up the least amount of runs — 3.2 per game — between themselves, the Devils and division-leading Butler and had not given up double-digit runs in a game to that point.
But the Devils came out on fire Monday and never let up.
A leadoff walk and a single by Ian Yunker put two runners on for Cade Beam, who blasted an RBI double off the left-center fence to give Tippecanoe the lead. C.J. Miller followed that with an RBI groundout, and the Devils led 2-0 after the top of the first.
“Throwing four straight balls to the first batter mentally set the pace for us today as a team,” Troy coach Ty Welker said. “That put our backs to the wall early, and they (Tippecanoe) swung the bats. We got behind in counts, they’re sitting fastball in fastball counts, and they did what you’re supposed to do with it.”
The Devils piled on in the second inning, adding five more to take a 7-0 lead. Matt Salmon reach on an error to lead off, Eli Hadden doubled and Andrew Baileys singled in a run. Jonny Baileys drew his second walk of the game to load the bases, Yunker drove in a run on an RBI groundout and Beam yanked an RBI single to left to make the score 5-0. A hit-batter reloaded the bases, and Nolan Mader hit a two-out, two-run single the other way to give the Devils a seven-run lead.
“I don’t know, honestly,” Cahill said when asked what led to the outburst. “We’ve seen a couple pitchers like (Troy’s Ethan) West this season. Maybe they understand the importance of where we are at this time of the year. The only way we can win the league is to win — Butler doesn’t have any league losses right now. If we lose today, we have two, Troy has two and Butler is sitting pretty with none still.”
Troy tops West Carrollton
April 26, 2019 By Josh Brown Troy Daily News
Last year, when the Troy baseball team shared the Greater Western Ohio Conference American North Division title with Tippecanoe, a 3-2 upset loss to West Carrollton cost them the outright title.
Friday, the Trojans got the chance for payback.
And while things didn’t begin well, with the team falling behind 3-1 after three and 5-2 in the middle of the fourth, Troy (12-4, 7-3 GWOC American North) rallied with seven runs over the course of the fifth and sixth innings to claim a 10-5 victory Friday at Market Street Field.
After West Carrollton put up two runs in the top of the first inning, Jacob Adams got Troy on the board with a solo homer. The Pirates made it a two-run game in the top of the second, but an RBI single by Adams in the third kept Troy close before a two-run inside-the-park home run put West Carrollton up 5-2 in the middle of the fourth.
That was the last run the Pirates would get, though, as Troy reliever Jakob Libecap settled in and shut them down the rest of the way. Troy then got a run in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single by Sam Shaneyfelt, then the Trojans got a run on an error and two more on passed balls in the fifth to take their first lead of the day. And in the sixth, Caleb Fogarty hit an RBI double, Cole Brogan a two-run single and Libecap an RBI groundout to seal the win.
Libecap got the win in relief of Braeden Snider on the mound, pitching 5 2-3 innings and allowing two runs on two hits and a walk with four strikeouts. And offensively, Adams was 2 for 2 with a home run, two RBIs and three runs scored, Brogan was 1 for 1 with two RBIs and three runs scored, Fogarty doubled and had an RBI and Libecap and Shaneyfelt each drove in a run.
Troy travels to Piqua Monday to begin a must-win two-game GWOC American North Division rivalry series.
Cashing in second chances
Snider’s clutch hit lifts Troy past Piqua, 3-1
April 30, 2019 By Josh Brown Troy Daily News
TROY — Watching the batter before him seemingly ground out on a routine play to end the third inning, Troy’s Braeden Snider knew he would still get his chance.
“I was standing at home plate where the home plate umpire was, and as soon as I saw him (the Piqua first baseman) pull his foot off the bag — me playing first base, too, I knew he pulled his foot,” Snider said. “When coach called the appeal, I knew it was going to get reversed and I was going to get my chance to bat.”
And Snider made good on that opportunity, too.
Troy’s senior first baseman ripped a line drive that found its way between first and second base for a clutch two-out, two-run single, and Cole Brogan followed that with an RBI single of his own, the only runs the Trojans would score on the day — but Brogan made them stand up on the mound, limiting the Indians to only two hits in a 3-1 Troy victory over Piqua Tuesday at Market Street Field to complete a two-game sweep of the division series.
Coupled with Monday’s 10-1 win at Piqua, the sweep makes Troy 14-4 overall and 9-3 in the Greater Western Ohio Conference American North Division, good enough for sole possession of second place in the standings, while the Indians fell to 9-10 and 6-8 in the division.
And Tuesday’s win all hinged on one play.
Caleb Fogarty beat out an infield single with one out in the bottom of the third and stole second, and a flyout brought up Jacob Adams with two outs. Adams hit what seemed like a routine groundout to short, but as the Indians were coming off the field, an appeal was made to the home plate umpire on whether or not Piqua’s first baseman kept his foot on the bag — and the out was overturned, putting runners on the corners with two outs and keeping the inning going for Snider.
“I think the guy pulled his foot. I don’t think there was a question about that,” Welker said. “I did like the way we responded after that, though. We didn’t spoil the chance there. We managed to get a couple of runs, we hit the ball — and we hit some line drives. It’s amazing what can happen when you put the ball in play on a line.”
“All I’ll say is we blame only ourselves for the things that happen, and we move forward with the ballgame,” Piqua’s Brad Lavey said. “I told my kids that this game’s about the present and the future — you can’t control what’s happened to you in the past.”
Adams stole second to put two runners in scoring position for Snider, who yanked a 2-1 pitch between the first and second baseman to bring home both runs and put Troy up 2-0.
“I really wanted to, too. I really wanted to get up that inning,” Snider said. “I’m just more confident in big situations like that. I feel like I do better in those situations because I understand that there’s a job that has to be done.
“It’s happened a couple times this year. It feels pretty good.”
Brogan was up next, and after Snider stole second base to get into scoring position, he dropped a blooper into right field to bring home another insurance run to make the score 3-0.
That was the only opportunity that Piqua starter Iverson Ventura gave the Trojans in the game, though. He limited Troy to only six hits on the day — four of them in that one inning — and walked three while striking out one.
“Our offense struggles against guys that throw like that,” Welker said. “We just didn’t have really good at-bats today. I just think that we definitely swung at more of his pitches than our pitches.”
And Piqua got a run back in the top of the fourth on some heads-up baserunning by Mick Karn. Karn reached on an error to lead off the inning and stole second, then on a routine groundout to third, Karn broke on contact and didn’t stop, scoring all the way from second on the play to cut the lead to 3-1.
“We competed the way we’re supposed to compete all the way around tonight,” Lavey said. “Iverson threw well and kept people off balance, challenged hitters and used the defense behind him. We didn’t get enough done at the plate today, but we were facing an excellent young man and an excellent Troy defense, and against them you’ve got to hit the ball hard and run the bags a little bit. And we didn’t quite get it done tonight.
“There’s no second place, though. You win or you lose. I don’t teach these kids much about consolation prizes. But it’s something to build off of, and we know what we need to work on.”
That’s where things remained the rest of the way, though, as Brogan shut down the Indians’ bats, pitching a two-hitter, walking one and striking out six, improving to 6-0 on the season in seven starts. All of the runs scored by both teams on the day were unearned.
“He grinded it out today,” Welker said of Brogan. “He didn’t feel like he had his best stuff, and we usually give him a bit more support. But he held them to two hits and one run, and you can’t ask for more out of your pitcher than that.”
Offensively, no one had multiple hits for either team. Adams doubled for Troy, Snider was 1 for 3 with two RBIs, Brogan was 1 for 2 with an RBI, Ethan West and Sam Shaneyfelt were both 1 for 3 and Fogarty was 1 for 2. Owen Toopes and Cameron Deal both went 1 for 3 for Piqua.
Trojans top T-Bolts, 9-5
Troy’s early lead holds up vs. Northmont
May 3, 2019 By Ron Nunnari - Brookville Star
CLAYTON — Troy jumped out to a 3-0 first inning lead Thursday and added more runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to post a 9-5 victory over Northmont.
Leadoff hitter Weston Smith reached base on an error, Austin Kendall singled and Jacob Adams drew a walk to load the bases. Smith scored on a fly ball to center and Braeden Snider belted a two-out, two run double to give the Trojans an early three run advantage.
Northmont got one run back in the bottom of the first when Keaton Kesling (2-for-3) doubled, advanced to third on a ground out and scored on an error.
Troy added two runs in the fourth. Kendall hit a triple and scored on a double by Adams and Cole Brogan singled to bring Adams home. The Trojans got another run in the fifth on a single by Jakob Libecap and a double by Matt Bigley.
Northmont got two runs in the home half of the fifth and seventh innings but the Trojans tacked on three runs in the top of the sixth that proved too much for the Thunderbolts to overcome.
Libecap picked up the victory for Troy. He surrendered three runs on five hits over five innings, striking out two and walking one.
“It was nice coming out and getting runs early,” said Troy coach Ty Welker. “More importantly for us, sometimes we’ve done that in the past and then we’ve stopped; kind of took our foot off the gas, so I really liked the way we chipped away and got runs in multiple innings. That was big. They got a run and then we would come back and score a couple, so that was one of the more impressive games I have seen from us. We have jumped on teams, but haven’t put them away later. That surely helped in the last inning having those runs late in the game.”
Kendall, Bigley, and Brogan each had multiple hits for Troy. Kendall, Bigley and Brogan each went 2-for-3.
With the victory Troy extended its win streak to five games and improved to 15-4 overall. Northmont fell to 5-16 on its way to its first losing season since 1984.
Butler tops Troy, clinches outright North title
May 7, 2019 By Josh Brown, Troy Daily News and Rob Kiser - Piqua Daily Call
TROY — Entering Monday, the Troy baseball team still mathematically had hope that it could claim a share of the Greater Western Ohio Conference American North Division title.
But a series of early errors against unbeaten division leader Butler changed that.
The Aviators scored four unearned runs in the first two innings to put the Trojans in an early hole, and Troy never recovered in a 10-4 loss in the first of a two-game series Monday at Market Street Field.
Troy (15-5, 9-4 GWOC American North) needed to sweep the two-game set and hope that Trotwood could knock off Butler (19-4, 13-0 GWOC American North) later this week. Instead, the Aviators clinched the division title outright with one game left in the series on Tuesday in Vandalia.
The Trojans pitched their ace, Cole Brogan, but five errors on defense proved to much even for him to overcome in the game. He allowed seven runs — only three earned — on 10 hits and one walk with three strikeouts in five innings of work, leaving the game with Butler leading 7-0. The Trojans put together a four-run rally in the bottom of the fifth to cut the deficit to three and get back into the game, but Butler scored three more in the top of the seventh to put the game away.
Troy was outhit 13-4 in the game. Weston Smith was 1 for 2 with a double and two RBIs and Caleb Fogarty was 1 for 3 with an RBI.
After Tuesday’s game at Butler, Troy travels to Preble Shawnee Thursday and Beavercreek Friday before finishing the regular season at home Saturday against Oakwood.
Trojans win 11-1, set up rematch with Aviators
May 16, 2019 By Josh Brown - Troy Daily News
TROY — There’s full circle, and then there’s where the Troy baseball team finds itself now.
The Trojans took on Wayne — the team that the season opened with way back on March 27 — in the second round of the Division I sectional tournament Thursday at Market Street Field, and though both teams have played a full schedule since that first meeting the end result was largely the same as fifth-seeded Troy run-ruled the No. 13 Warriors again, this time 11-1 in six innings.
And though Troy (19-6) defeated Wayne 13-0 in its season opener, the Trojans knew to expect a completely different team on Thursday — especially considering the Warriors (10-14) defeated No. 7 Xenia — a team that beat Troy during the regular season — 6-3 in a first-round game to earn the rematch against the Trojans.
“They have improved since the first game. I really believe that,” Troy coach Ty Welker said. “They’re a better team, and they play better. I watched them against Xenia, and they’re scrappy. I knew they’d be better.
And now Troy will get a rematch of its own, taking on No. 4 Butler in Tuesday’s sectional final at Centerville High School. The division rival Aviators, who beat No. 14 Northmont 3-2 on Thursday to advance, swept a two-game series against Troy in the regular season.
“That was our goal, to play them again in that game,” Welker said. “We know what they have, we know they’re a good baseball team and we know we have to be at our best to compete with them. And we feel like we’re that kind of team. We didn’t play that way against them the first two times, but we feel like … we’re a team that’s 19-6. That’s a good baseball team. And we beat a lot of really good baseball teams this year.”
And even though they got off to a slow start, the Trojans beat another one Thursday.
After both teams went down in order in the first, Troy’s Braeden Snider led off the bottom of the second with a double, and Cole Brogan blasted a double over the center fielder’s head to score Snider and give Troy the early lead. Brogan then stole third and scored on a wild pitch, and the Trojans were up 2-0.
Troy added another run in the third as Jacob Adams drew a leadoff walk, stole second and scored on another RBI double by Brogan, this time pulled just inside the third-base line. And in the fourth, the Trojans tacked on two more runs. Matt Bigley and Weston Smith singled to kick off the inning and Caleb Fogarty bunted them both into scoring position. Austin Kendall blooped in an RBI single and Snider added a two-out RBI single to put Troy on top, 5-0.
“We did have a lot of good at-bats,” Welker said. “We don’t want to be too selective. At this point, we want to swing. I felt like we were too tight at times, but we did the things we needed to do.
“We scored in every inning except the first. If we can get one or two runs every inning, that makes us pretty good. We feel like our pitching and defense is good enough that if we can score like that, we’re sitting pretty good.”
That was plenty of support for Brogan on the mound. Coming off of a five-inning no-hitter on Senior Day Saturday, the senior only hit a couple of speedbumps in Thursday’s game, allowing one run on on four hits with no walks and six strikeouts.
“They hit a couple balls here and there — again, they’re scrappy at the plate,” Welker said. “Cole didn’t really have a lot of strikeouts, but you know they’re going to be scrappy — and he battled. I thought he did a great job, and he got a lot of ground ball outs. And the infield did their job, that’s for sure.”
And in the bottom of the fifth, Troy’s offense put the game away for good with a big two-out rally.
Ethan West walked and Bigley was hit by a pitch, but Wayne reliever Connor Fiegly got a flyout to center for the second out. Fogarty reached on an error to load the bases, though, and Kendall promptly cleared them by yanking a three-run triple to the fence in right. Adams then drove him in with an RBI double before another flyout kept the game alive for one more inning with Troy up only 9-0.
Wayne got its run in the top of the sixth on an RBI single by Riley Duchesne, but the Trojans finished things off with another rally in the bottom of the inning. After two quick outs, West and Bigley ripped back-to-back singles and Smith drew a walk to load the bases for Fogarty, who hammered a walkoff double off the left-center fence to score two runs and seal the win.
“I don’t feel like the final score is indicative of the game, especially the early parts,” Welker said. “Wayne is better than they were. I felt we played a little tight around the plate, and we only hit one ground ball in the game. I feel like you have to make that team play defense — but we had a lot of nice hits, as well.”
Offensively for Troy, Kendall was 2 for 4 with a triple and four RBIs, Brogan was 2 for 4 with two doubles and two RBIs, Snider was 2 for 4 with a double and one RBI, Fogarty doubled and had two RBIs and Bigley was 2 for 2, was hit by pitches twice and scored three runs.
Now the Trojans will take on another familiar opponent Tuesday, this time with a trip to the district final on the line.
“We feel like we don’t have to do anything but be ourselves,” Welker said. “If we can do that, play like we can play, we’re going to be okay.”
© 2023 Troy High School Baseball