Apr 19, 2023 By Jonathan Guth for The 5 min read

COAL CENTER — When California and Carmichaels play in baseball, the records are tossed out the window.

That was the case Tuesday afternoon at Malden Yards as the Trojans (5-2, 6-6) took a five-run lead into the seventh inning and held off a Mikes rally to eke out a 5-4 victory in a Section 1-A showdown.

Carmichaels came into the game undefeated at 4-0 in section play and 8-0 overall. The Mikes fall into second place behind Avella (6-1, 8-1). California sits in third.

California coach Taylor Andrisko had his first taste of the rivalry, and although he enjoyed the win he is not sure his blood pressure can withstand many games like it.

“This was my first experience with the rivalry, but I had a blast,” Andrisko said. “I told the guys before the game: ‘The only people in the world that think we are going to win are the guys in this room.’ Let’s wear that mentality, let’s let that eat at us a little bit, and let’s go let the chips fall where they fall, and we get the pleasure of seeing them tomorrow.

“Carmichaels is a great team that is well-coached, so hats off to them. There is no quit in that team. I tell the guys about playing until there are 21 outs, and Carmichaels made us earn those 21 outs.”

Andrisko and the Trojans were scheduled to play the Mikes again Wednesday at Carmichaels.

“For six innings, we played bad baseball, and they played very good baseball,” Carmichaels coach Richard Krause said. “You have to give them all the credit in the world because of how they played and how they approached things.

“Their batters attacked things in the batter’s box, their pitcher went at us on the mound, and I thought we were kind of defensive and reacting the whole game. The plan becomes to split them. (Wednesday) is a huge game. If we get them, we are back in the driver’s seat because we only have one loss in the section.”

The Mikes entered the seventh with just six hits but started the frame off on Aydan Adamson’s single to left field. Adamson had three of Carmichaels’ nine hits.

Following Adamson’s base hit, the Trojans had to replace starting pitcher Addison Panepinto because of pitch-count rules. The senior right-hander earned the win after allowing one run on seven hits. He struck out four and walked one.

“He was really cruising out there, so it really hurt me to pull the leash off him, but you have to, it’s the rules,” Andrisko said.

Caden Powell took the hill for Panepinto and got Ambrose Adamson, who doubled and singled earlier in the game, to pop to short.

Robbie Wilson-Jones and Patrick Holaren walked to load the bases and Adamson scored when Dominic Colarusso reached on an infield hit to get the Mikes on the scoreboard.

Powell was removed from the mound for Caden Monticelli.

Jacob Fordyce’s triple to right field scored Peyton Schooley, who re-entered the game to run for Wilson-Jones, Holaren and Colarusso to cut the deficit to 5-4.

Liam Lohr reached when California third baseman Chase Cicchitto dove to stop the ball from entering the outfield, but the throw pulled the runner off the bag.

Lohr was originally called out, but the umpires conferred and ruled that first baseman Brody Todd was pulled off the bag and Lohr was safe.

“We smoke a ball that nine times out of 10 in high school is going to be a base hit to left field, and that third baseman stopped the ball from going into left field, which would have tied the game,” Krause said. “If you are talking about a pivotal moment in the game, I think that’s it. It would be 5-5 and we have two outs to go.

“You can’t mask this with a 5-4 loss. We didn’t play baseball today. We didn’t pitch as well as I wanted to pitch, we certainly didn’t hit as well for six innings. We are not hiding anything. This was an ugly game.”

Monticelli buckled down and recorded back-to-back strikeouts to earn the save.

“Caden did an excellent job shutting it down,” Andrisko said. “My guys have dog in them. They want to compete, and there is no quit in them.”

The Trojans scored one run in the first on Kris Weston’s single up the middle to score Ricky Lawson, who singled and moved to third on Aidan Lowden’s double.

California added three more in the third on three hits and benefited from an error.

Powell singled and scored on Lawson’s double to left, and Lawson scored when Lowden reached on an error for a 3-0 advantage.

Lowden scored on Weston’s sacrifice fly that was caught in foul territory for a 4-0 lead after three.

The Trojans’ final run came in the fifth when Lowden reached on an infield single and scored on Cicchitto’s double to right field.

“When you look at our offense, there is no secret that Aidan Lowden and Ricky Lawson can hit,” Andrisko said.