Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
UNION MILLS - It took a total of two at-bats for Triton's baseball team to set the tone for its opening round South Central Class A Sectional game against Westville Wednesday.
On just the 11th pitch of the game, the Trojans' Matt Wanemacher drove a pitch over the right center field wall to put Triton ahead 1-0. That would be all the Trojans would need, although they tacked on nine more runs in beating the Blackhawks 10-0 in six innings to advance to the semifinal game Saturday.
"We really did a nice job attacking the ball, especially in the early innings," Triton coach Jim Shively said. "When we face better pitching, we're going to have to be more patient and work the count more. But tonight, we just went after the first good pitch we saw."
Triton scored nine times in the first three innings but had a slight let-up in the middle frames. It took the Trojans three more innings to put another run on the board to finish Westville by the 10-run rule in the sixth inning.
Lost in Triton's 14-hit, seven extra base hit, attack was the exceptional pitching performance by sophomore Nate Setser. The Trojans' No. 3 pitcher threw five innings, allowing just two hits. Jeff Salisbury came on to work the sixth inning, walking one.
"Setser did a good job for us," Shively said. "Nate's done a solid job his last three times out. It's just been a matter of consistency with him. Jeff likes to work a lot, so we wanted to give him an inning of work."
Shively went on to comment that six innings was just about perfect for his team to get enough time on the field.
After Wanemacher's homer, Kyle Gould singled and moved to second on a botched pick-off attempt. Derek Ganshorn followed with a single that scored Gould to make the score 2-0 after one inning of play.
In the top of the second, Jake Burnett led off the inning with a double and Schuyler Stutzman followed with a bunt single that moved Burnett to third. Triton then put on a double steal that worked to perfection as Burnett scored and Stutzman moved to second.
Wanemacher then followed by popping up to Westville first baseman Rodney McMurray. However, McMurray dropped the ball and Stutzman scored from third while Wanemacher ended up on second. He ended up scoring on a double from Gould that made the score 5-0 after two innings.
In the top of the third, the Trojans put the game away by scoring four times. Eric Miller singled and scored on a triple from Burnett, who came home on a wild pitch. Stutzman then walked, stole second and reached third on another wild pitch. He scored when Wanemacher tripled. Gould finished off the inning by doubling to plate Wanemacher.
In all, Triton had four doubles, two triples and the home run from Wanemacher. As a team, Triton hit a robust .424 on the game.
Gould and Wanemacher led the way offensively, combining for four extra base hits. Wanemacher was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and Gould went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs.
Triton (17-10) will meet Argos in the semifinals Saturday at noon. Those two teams split a pair of games in the regular season.
