ARCANUM – Arcanum’s baseball team brought out the timber laying some wood to the baseball Monday night with 12 hits and defeated Preble Shawnee 15-5 in WOAC action.
The Trojans got off to a shaky start in the game as Preble Shawnee scored 2 runs to start.
“We had the first batter out and they hit a ball back to our pitcher, we make an error and then have a pass ball leaving runners on second and third and give up two runs to start the game,” Arcanum coach Randy Baker said.
Shawnee’s Kaid Runyon hit a sacrifice fly to score Xavier Davidson and that was followed by a single from Lane Lovely plating Gavin Schmidt to give the Arrows a 2-0 lead.
Arcanum though responded in the bottom half of the inning scoring 5 runs.
Caleb Burke singled to center to score Ethan Kearny. The Trojans had the bases loaded and Luke Stephens drew a walk allowing Regan Christ to score. Kolton Quigney reach on an error and Bryce Kramer came home. Then Dakota Kendig followed with another hard hit to third base that was bobbled, and Caleb Burke scored. The final run scored was by Luke Stephens on walk drawn by Derek Longstreth.
Preble Shawnee pitcher Colton Strong would be done for the night and into the game was Kaid Runyon who finally coaxed a flyout to end the 1st inning.
Arcanum added 7 more runs in the bottom of the 2nd inning to jump ahead 12-2.
Both Lucas Miller and Kolton Quigney each hit doubles scoring two runs each. Ethan Kearney and Regan Christ both hit singles scoring runs as well.
At the top of the 3rd freshman pitcher Bishop Cartwright came in to relieve junior pitcher Seth Fearon.
The Arrows scored 3 runs in the inning as Cartwright tried to settle into the game.
Landon Lovely walked scoring Xander Davidson, followed by a Caleb Blankenship single to score Lane Lovely and Colton Strong before Cartwright caught a pop-fly to end the inning cutting the Trojans lead to 12-5.
Arcanum scored 2 more runs in the bottom half of the 4th inning to go up 14-5.
Cartwright took the Arrows down in order at the top of the 5th inning and all Arcanum needed was a run in the bottom half of the inning to run rule Shawnee.
The Trojans loaded the bases and brought up senior Jacob Flayler to the plate, a team and fan favorite. Flayler drove the ball to center field scoring Regan Christ to end the game giving Arcanum a run rule victory 15-5.
“You know, you give him a shot there and he hits the ball right up the middle and did exactly what you want him to do for the walk off hit to finish the game. That’s a big move for the senior there and I’m glad he got to have that moment because he works extremely hard and for him to get that moment was awesome,” Coach Baker would say after the game.
Baker talked about the slow start but how they responded with their bats and got an opportunity to get some of his younger pitcher’s experience on the hill.
“We started out a little rough, but then I think we responded really well with our bats by coming out and putting a five spot in the first inning. I thought, for the first time this year, we started to hit like what we’ve been seeing in practice, BP and in the cages, which is a great sign for us,” Baker explained.
“We had a chance to throw Seth Fearon but only had a fastball tonight. Then we brought in our freshman Bishop Cartwright, and he got a little rattled to start but then he calmed down and threw well so it was a good learning experience for him,” Baker added.
Arcanum improves to 9-6 overall and is tied in 2nd place in the WOAC at 5-1 with Dixie.
The Trojans have 3 seniors, 3 juniors, 6 sophomores and 3 freshmen on the team this year so they are relatively young according to Baker.
“We’re a young team, we’re going to have our ups and downs, but they’ve grown already. It’s going to take time. We’re teaching some things that they’ve never even heard of before and we’re trying to try to do it on the run and they have taken what we’ve been saying, working hard and it has instilled confidence at the plate. So, we’re really proud of the guys,” Baker concluded.
Arcanum will play three more league games this week with TV South, Franklin Monroe and Tri-County North then a big game on May 2nd at Newton.
Preble Shawnee fall to 0-10 overall and 0-5 in the WOAC. They have league games with Ansonia and Newton this week.
