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In Wednesday afternoon’s game between East Davidson and Trinity it was the little things that ended up making the difference. With hardly any practice time due to basketball, East Davidson looked a little rusty and Trinity made the most of it as the Bulldogs grinded out a 9-0 victory.
“They just need more reps,” said EDHS coach Dan Tricarico. “It takes time. It’s not something that happens in one week. It’s going to take a little bit of time. That’s why you schedule non-conference games. We are a little behind, but so is a lot of other teams. That’s OK. We expected that. You will hear a lot of coaches and teachers say that if you take care of the little things the big things will take care of themselves.”
Trinity scored four runs in the first inning, giving starter Andrew Elks, who surrendered just three hits in five innings, the run support he needed. The Bulldogs did so with aggressive base-running and some timely hitting off the Golden Eagles’ Ryan Coleman. THS sent eight batters to the plate, executed a double steal and put pressure on the EDHS defense.
Cody Lewallen struck first for the Bulldogs, lining a double to right center-field. Jared Kirk followed with a bloop single that landed just in front of center-fielder Adam Hayes, putting a pair of runners on. Chad Wagner tried to move the runners over but Coleman fielded the bunt perfectly and gunned Lewallen out at third. Instead of trying another bunt with Elks up, THS coach Rob Shore called a double steal that put two runners in scoring position. Four straight hits later from Elks, Justin Pittman, Jay Jenkins and Chris Sheets and the Golden Eagles found themselves in a 4-0 hole.
“I preach to my guys to play the perfect seven innings,” Shore said. “Tonight, we played defense and we threw strikes. I like to do a lot of the small things well — base running and bunting. Simple things like that are often over-looked. If we can run the bases well like we did tonight, you put yourself in position to score runs.”
The Bulldogs continued their opportunistic play in the second as Lewallen ripped a one-out triple to right and came home on a Kirk RBI groundout.
Poor execution by East led to a couple of runs in the bottom of the third. The Golden Eagles nearly neutralized a lead-off walk when they had Pittman picked off trying to steal second, but a relay throw ended up in the outfield, squandering an easy out. Sheets made EDHS pay two batters later with a bloop base hit that plated Kirk for a 6-0 THS advantage. Golden Eagles’ catcher Kevin Michael, East’s replacement for star Nathan Naturile, had an inning he’d like to forget as a passed ball and a throwing error led to another Bulldog run.
“We made a couple of defensive mistakes, but we have to swing the bats better, especially early in the game,” said Tricarico. “We are seeing some good things. We just have to be more consistent commanding the strike zone. Over time, as we get more work on the mound pitching in game situations, I can see that coming.”
Staff Writer Eliot Duke can be reached at 472-9500, ext. 233, or at eliotduke@hotmail.com.