Trojans too much for Mikes
COAL CENTER — California’s baseball squad doesn’t lose many section games.
The Trojans (4-1, 10-2) lost their first Section 1-A contest since 2013 to Bentworth (5-0, 7-2) on Monday but came back with a 10-0 victory Wednesday over rival Carmichaels at Malden Yards on the campus of California Area High School.
“I told the team good teams lose games and sometimes bounce back and sometimes they don’t bounce back when they play a good team coming up,” California coach Nick Damico said. “They showed me they are a great team today, because not only did they bounce back, but everybody, one through nine, did their job and played a flawless, excellent game. This is the game of the year for us.”
Louden Conte starred on the mound and knocked in the game-clinching hit in the fifth to put the 10-run Mercy Rule into effect.
Conte’s RBI single with one out in the fifth scored Drake Johnson for the Trojans’ 10th run. The senior held the Mikes’ batters in check, as he allowed no runs on two hits in five innings. He had four strikeouts and didn’t walk a batter. Conte only needed to throw 54 pitches to improve his season record to 6-1.
Ten of the 15 outs Conte recorded were either fly balls or popups, but the Trojans’ starter benefited from strong defensive play in an error-free game. Conte gave up base hits to Tyler Martin and Nick Mundell.
“We just weren’t good enough today,” Carmichaels coach Dickie Krause said. “We have had a rough week. We were hoping to turn the corner today and play well against a good team but that didn’t happen. We had mistakes all over the place.”
The Trojans reached base to lead off every inning and started in the first with two runs on two hits.
Conte was hit by a pitch, stole second and moved to third on Johnny DeFranco’s single. On DeFranco’s base hit, the Mikes threw to the plate to keep Conte from scoring but DeFranco moved to second on the play.
Nathaniel Luketich’s two-run double scored Conte and DeFranco for the 2-0 lead. The Trojans added three runs in the third for a 5-0 lead.
DeFranco walked to lead off the inning, Luketich singled and James Campbell came on as a courtesy runner.
The Trojans caught a break when a pop-up hit in foul territory by Zajicek couldn’t be fielded and the California senior was able to score DeFranco on a sacrifice fly to center for a 3-0 lead.
Alex Adams’ RBI double scored Campbell for a 4-0 lead and he scored the Trojans’ fifth run when Mariscotti reached via error.
“We made a lot of defensive mistakes, and offensively, we swung the bats really badly,” Krause said.
“We didn’t have any patience at the plate and we popped everything up.”
California would benefit from another Carmichaels’ miscue when the Mikes’ Jacob Kinsell struck out Jacobs swinging but the ball got away from the catcher and Jacobs reached first.
Johnson was hit by pitch and both he and Jacobs scored for a 7-0 lead on Zajicek’s two-run single.
Kinsell took the loss after throwing 98 pitches in 3 2/3 innings. He gave up seven runs, six earned, on six hits. The Mikes’ starter had two strikeouts and walks, and was replaced by Mundell.
“We know we’ve got a good pitcher in Kinsell,” Krause said.
“We started him on three days rest when we didn’t want to. We kind of got forced into a situation where we had to use him, and not to make any excuses for him, but he went home sick yesterday.
“He wasn’t at his best but that is not to take anything away from them. They are a good-hitting team and a nice squad overall.”
Both teams were to meet again Friday at Carmichaels.
Krause has seen his team lose three straight and hopes they can break out of their slump Friday.
“We lost a very tough game on Saturday against Bentworth and I don’t think we have recovered from that,” Krause said.
“These are a great group of kids and I am very blessed to be able to coach them but we have to improve and be better baseball players. We havde scored five runs in the last three games, and that is not going to win many baseball games. Friday’s game will be a gut check.”