BASEBALL: Trinity picks up win on two-game Carolina trip

By Jeremy Payne, Correspondent

While the majority of the Trinity student body was celebrating spring break, the Crusader baseball team traveled to Charleston to face some out-of-state competition early last week.   

Trinity fell 9-4 to Catholic High, from Chesapeake, Virginia, on Monday, but rebounded for a big 14-5 win over Goose Creek, of South Carolina, on Tuesday.  

Monday’s Catholic game was scoreless through two innings before the Crusaders from Virginia got on the board first. 

A pair of walks and a double to open the third made it 2-0. Catholic would tack on three more runs in the frame without the benefit of a hit. Two walks, an error, a wild pitch and a sac fly would make the score 5-0.

Trinity tried to come back in the top of the fourth. Isaias Tolentino led off the frame with a double. A walk to Kolbi Grooms and a single by Carson Shepherd would then load the bases. Cesar Rodriguez came up next and delivered a two-run double to make it 5-2.

An RBI single from Carter Lee and a bases-loaded walk would plate two more runs to put Trinity right back in the game, down 5-4. But Catholic wasted no time responding. A single and a triple to lead off the bottom of the fourth made the score 6-4. An error would then make it 7-4.

Catholic put the game away in the sixth. With two outs, it got a walk, an error and a single to push across two more runs, and make it 9-4. Trinity got a pair of runners on in the seventh, but couldn’t score. 

Shepherd led Trinity with a pair of hits. Tolentino, Lee and Rodriguez also hit safely.

Three Crusader hurlers pitched in the loss. Eighth grader Tripp Marscaro was the most successful, going two innings, allowing four hits and no earned runs. He walked one and struck out two.

Tuesday’s game was much better for Trinity. 

An error and an RBI single by Cruz Giles in the bottom of the first gave the Crusaders a 1-0 lead. Another error would make the score 2-0.

Luc Bennett delivered a two out single in the third to make it 3-0.

Goose Creek knotted the game in the top the fourth. Three singles and double off of Trinity starter Ben Helton would leave it 3-3.

Mascaro led off the home half of the fourth with a single. A wild pitch and a passed ball got him to third before a sac fly made it 4-3. Helton would then help his own cause with a double and eventually score on a wild pitch to make it 5-3.

Shepherd led off the fifth with a single. Following an out, Grooms and Mascaro would get hits to load the bases. With two away, Helton drove home a pair to make it 7-3.

Goose Creek got a pair of runs back in the sixth on two singles, a double and a walk to make the score 7-5.

Trinity would blow the game open in the home half of the sixth. Two errors and a walk loaded the bases.  Following an out, another error would plate a pair of runs, making it 9-5.

The Crusaders would go on to score two more runs on wild pitches and get a sac fly to make it 12-5. Giles would then deliver a two-run triple to push the lead to 14-5.

Helton, Giles, and Mascaro had three hits each to lead Trinity. Grooms, Shepherd, Bennett and Asher Evans also hit safely for the Crusaders.

Helton got the win, going 5 1/3, allowing six hits and four earned runs. He walked one and struck out eight.  

Evans earned the save by going the final inning and two thirds, allowing one hit striking out two.

Trinity (9-6, 3-0 region 6-AA) begins its next region series at Central Fellowship Tuesday.