Triton Baseball: Blackhawk Outdoes Triton Again
WATERFORD MILLS – For a second year in a row, Fort Wayne Blackhawk stumped Triton in the baseball state tournament. The Braves, which knocked Triton out in a lopsided regional semi-final a season ago, rolled past the Trojans Monday morning, 11-1, in five innings at the Bethany Christian Baseball Sectional.
Blackhawk jumped out early to a 2-0 lead in the first on a two-run single from Cole Barkhaus and never looked back. Nate Moonen added an RBI double in the second and Bailey Sheldon led off the third with a rocket shot into the tall pines beyond the left field fence to make it 4-0.
The snowball in the warm Memorial Day sun somehow kept building.
“Dylan (Hensley), he was hitting his spots, he pitched a decent game. He just wasn’t getting the backup,” said Triton head coach Brad Hargrave. “A lot of that happened this year. Our pitchers are way better than what their record showed and what the scoreboard showed a lot.”
Triton didn’t help their starter out in the field, committing four errors, all of which were connected to Blackhawk runs. The Braves did mash 13 hits off Hensley, led by Sheldon’s homer and walk-off single, which plated the final two runs. Sheldon added a walk to his three-RBI day.
Jonah Norris, Brad Berry and Moonen all had two hits and two RBIs while Barkhaus and Ryan Reimschisel both drove in a run.
Hensley shouldered all the work on the mound for Triton, walking two and striking out four in the 4.2 innings of work.
Triton scratched across its only run in the top of the fifth. Connor Yoder opened the inning getting hit by a pitch, followed by a Max Slusser walk. Pinch-runner Payton Westafer came home with the run on a Zac Pitney sacrifice fly, at the time making the score 7-1.
The Trojans managed just five singles and one walk along with the hit-by-pitch as its only offense. Triton left four runners in scoring position, two of them in the fourth. Norris, who started the game on the hill for Blackhawk, worked out of jams in the second and fourth innings with strikeouts to end threats.
Norris had four strikeouts in 4.2 innings of work, with Barkhaus getting the final strikeout in the fifth to end that threat.
Fort Wayne Blackhawk (16-5) will meet Fremont in the Bethany Christian final later this afternoon after Fremont disposed of Lakewood Park Christian, 11-0, in the day’s second game.
Triton (11-14) will go back to the chalkboard with a youthful roster Hargrave is pretty excited about. Triton’s lone senior on the playoff roster is Westafer.
“We’re young,” Hargrave said. “I’m starting two freshmen and the sophomores and one of my juniors, this is their first year of playing varsity. We’ve got some work to do.”
Continued Hargrave about his core pitching group returning, “(Hensley, a sophomore) is going to be a good pitcher for us for years to come. As for our other juniors, Zac Pitney and Nate Flenar, they both will be back next year. My three mains, I will get them all back next year. So we are looking pretty decent pitching-wise for next year. I am really excited about that.”