Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
BOURBON - Triton baseball coach Jim Shively predicted before the season his players would score a lot of runs this year.
They have. They tallied 20 in five innings in their first game of the season. They beat Oregon-Davis 20-6 on Wednesday.
But there's this saying in baseball. Who invented it, nobody knows. Commentators sure like saying it, though.
Good pitching beats good hitting.
Triton's good-hitting team ran into some of that good pitching on Thursday. Triton lost to South Bend LaSalle 7-4. LaSalle improved to 4-0, while Triton fell to 1-1.
The Trojans had their fair share of hits - 10 in seven innings. Problem was, they couldn't always score. They also struck out 15 times.
LaSalle right-handed starter Scott Fitterling worked 3 2/3 innings and struck out seven. Right-handed hurler Shawn Grams relieved him and went the rest of the way. He struck out eight in 3 1/3 innings.
Both pitchers stayed out of the big inning.
"They had pitchers who threw hard," Shively said. "This was the first time we saw any decent heat this year. It's hard to simulate that in practice."
LaSalle took a 2-0 lead against Triton left-handed starter Jeff Salisbury after the top of the first. Triton loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the first.
The Trojans left all three runners perched on their bases.
LaSalle tacked on two more in the second inning to take a 4-0 lead. Triton scrapped its way back with one run in the second and the third innings. The Trojans added another in the fourth to pull within 4-3, and they were threatening for more. They had two on with two out in the fourth when cleanup hitter Scott Blackford stepped to the plate.
LaSalle coach Scott Sill pulled Fitterling and put Grams in. Grams struck out Blackford to end the inning.
Triton left at least one runner on base every inning. All told, the Trojans stranded 11 in seven innings.
His team never came up with the key hit, Shively said.
"We left way too many runners on base," Shively said. "We would have guys on third but couldn't bring them in."
Trailing 5-3, the Trojans went to work in the bottom of the sixth. Second baseman Brad Hargrave, the ninth hitter in the order, led off with a single.
Grams struck out the next two batters, Nate Setser and Kevin Oxley. Cory Monesmith singled to put two on with two out, but Grams struck out Blackford to end the inning.
"I thought we had a chance there," Shively said. "We had our nine, one and two hitters up. Hargrave got a hit to lead us off. Our two, three, four and five hitters are the strength of our order. Once we didn't get it done that inning, I knew it would be tough."
LaSalle added two more in the seventh against Salisbury to go up 7-3.
Offensively, Triton didn't have timely hits. But Shively said his team didn't help itself in the field, either. The Trojans committed four errors.
LaSalle's first two runs were scored by batters who walked to get on base. The third run was scored by a batter who reached on an error. One of the runs in the last inning was scored by a batter who reached on an error.
"Jeff wasn't settled in early, and it took him awhile to get going," Shively said. "(LaSalle's) coach even said if we would have taken away the first two innings, it would have been a different game.
"I guess you can always go back and say that. With four errors and 15 strikeouts, you will beat very few teams."
Triton hosts an 11 a.m. doubleheader with Caston on Saturday.
