BASEBALL: Trinity wins third in a row at Thomas Jefferson

The Trinity Crusaders traveled to Louisville on Thursday to face Thomas Jefferson Academy, and were able to continue their strong early-season play with an 8-3 win.

Ben Helton got the offense going in the first with a single to lead off the contest, and quickly stole second.  Following a sacrifice bunt by Braden Underwood, Jakob Sahli’s sac fly made it it 1-0.

Cruz Giles led off the second inning in with a single and steal of second as well.  Starting pitcher Carter Lee would help his own cause with an an RBI single to make the score 2-0.

Following an out and a walk, Asher Evans made it 3-0 with another run-scoring single.  A walk to Helton would load the bases and another walk to Underwood made it 4-0 after two frames.

The Crusader offense looked to add more in the fourth.  Helton drew a one-out walk but was thrown out at third trying to advance on an Underwood single.  Fortunately, a hit batter would keep the inning alive for Tripp Mascaro.  The freshman came up big with a two-run double to push the Trinity lead to 6-0.

Carson Shepherd led off the fifth with a hit. Evans would then reach on an error and Helton walked again to load the bases.  Underwood drove home another run on a fielder’s choice to make it 7-0.  The score went to 8-0 on a wild pitch.

The home team would get a couple of runs in the home half of the fifth on three singles and another run in the sixth following a pair of errors to make it 8-3.

Eight of the nine Crusader starters had hits in the contest.  Shepherd had a pair to lead the way.  Helton, Underwood, Mascaro, Lee, Giles, Evans and Kolbi Grooms also hit safely. Trinity also coaxed eight walks and struck out just twice.

Lee got the win by going four innings, allowing just two hits and no runs.  He walked two and struck out three.

The Crusaders (4-0) reeled off another road win, 5-4, at Mount de Sales  Friday to finish out a perfect first week. They’ll begin region play Tuesday at Gatewood.