PENDLETON — Pendleton Heights baseball opened its season with two losses to New Castle, but in doing so, Coach Matt Vosburgh saw where the Arabians need work and where they may shine.
“We have a situation right now where we have a lot of guys getting some really good experience right away,” Vosburgh said. “These are juniors who haven’t had any varsity experience.”
In their season opener March 29 at New Castle, the Trojans bested the Arabians 17-8 and again at home on Bill Stoudt Field on March 31 by a score of 13-5.
In Wednesday’s contest, the Arabians held a 6-5 lead going into the fifth inning, but the Trojans tacked on five runs in the fifth and seven in the sixth inning.
Arabian Caleb Frakes’ home run was one of his two hits. Frakes had two RBI for the game. Clayton Turner also had two hits for the Arabians. Overall, the team had eight hits for the game, but seven errors were costly.
In Wednesday’s game, the Arabians couldn’t find the offense they had in the previous game. Scoreless after the first inning, New Castle’s Corban Malott belted out a grand slam to give the Trojans a 4-0 lead at the top of the second inning. They scored eight more in the third for a 12-0 lead.
Jalen Jordan started on the mound for the Arabians and went almost three innings, before Ben Hargrave came in to relieve him.
Sophomore pitcher Clint Miller then came in to finish the game, giving up just one run, two hits and throwing five strikeouts during the remaining four innings.
Vosburgh said he wanted to get Miller in to relieve sooner, but Miller was in right field and Vosburgh had to make some position switches to give Miller the opportunity to warm up. “Clint Miller came in and really saved us. We needed that competitive fire.”
“We anticipated Clint being a guy for us in the off season. He’s got a competitive nature that’s really going to drive him forward,” Vosburgh said. “Guys like Clint coming in to produce says not only ‘I belong in this moment, but I deserve to have a chance later on.’ He earned that tonight.”
The Arabians got on the board in the bottom of the fourth when Sam Conner was hit by a pitch and Clayton Turner and Nate Gilmet singled to bring Conner in to score.
“We’ve got some things to work on in the next couple of days, but I liked our fight at the end of the game,” Vosburgh said.
In the fifth, the Trojans went down in order on two pop flies and a KO by Miller. The Arabians found some offensive ground in their final at bat in the seventh, scoring two runs on two walks, a passed ball and a single, hit by Frakes.
Jordan was awarded the loss for the Arabians with 10 runs allowed on six hits. The Arabians committed just two errors in the game.
The Arabians are 0-2 to begin the season, with a trip to Wapahani on the schedule for April 1 and a home contest on April 5 against Yorktown.