Trojans knock off Dragons 2-0
JUNCTION CITY - After Reagan Cates graduated, Parkers Chapel had a vacancy at the top of their rotation.
If Wednesday's performance is any indication, T.J. Bale may be the man to fill that role.
A sophomore, Bale fired a two-hit shutout and struck out 15 in a superb effort to outduel Logan Disotell and lead Parkers Chapel to a 2-0 win over Junction City.
The right-hander walked just one batter while allowing only three baserunners the entire game.
Of the 21 outs he recorded, 19 were by either strikeouts or groundouts.
"Just an outstanding job by T.J.," said Parkers Chapel coach Mark Looney. "I was talking to him after the game, and the important thing was that he only walked one. When you don't walk people and your defense plays behind you and the other team has to earn their runs, you can hold your opponent down.
"He threw strikes. The only reason I let him complete the game was that he was still under 100 pitches, and he's been throwing bullpens since November, so he had already been throwing 80-85 in the bullpen. He wanted to finish the game, so I let him do that. He did a heck of a job."
Bale needed to be on top of his game thanks to Disotell, who nearly matched Bale pitch for pitch.
A senior, Disotell allowed just four hits and two runs in six innings of work. He walked one and struck out seven.
"It was definitely a good pitching duel for the first week of the season," said Junction City coach Joe Paul Hammett. "Bale threw a great game and kept us off-balance with his curveball. Any time you have 15 strikeouts, you're going to have a tough time beating the other team. Logan did pretty well also and kept us in the ballgame. I'm definitely pleased with our pitching so far. If we keep Worthey doing that, the hitting and defense will come around."
The Trojans (3-0) scored single runs in the first and third innings to give Bale all the run support he would need.
Carson Worthey, who drove in seven runs in the Trojans' wins over Lafayette County and Hampton earlier this week, continued his torrid hot streak in the opening inning to give the Trojans the lead.
With two outs and nobody on, Disotell seemed to be on his way to a 1-2-3 inning, but Bale extended the inning with a single to center.
That set the stage for Worthey, who belted a double to right-center to score Bale with the game’s first run.
In three games, Worthey is 6-for-9 at the plate with eight RBIs.
The Trojans then padded their lead with a run in the third.
M ichae l Brotherton reached on a bunt single to third and was able to take second on a throwing error.
Blake Wells then laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Brotherton to third, and the Trojans’ right fielder later scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.
From that point on, Disotell was in control, retiring nine of the final 10 batters he faced with Trace Blaylock reaching on an error in the fifth being the Trojans’ lone baserunner until the seventh.
But the Dragons (1-1) couldn’t muster any offense against Bale.
Staked to an early lead, Bale surrendered only a leadoff single to Disotell in the second through his first three innings of work, recording seven of his nine outs via strikeouts.
The right-hander also helped himself by saving a run in the second.
After courtesy runner Cody Lee stole second, Bale snared a hard one-hopper off of Keelan Hodge’s bat that was earmarked for center field.
The Dragons got a run-
ner to third in the fourth and fifth innings, but failed to cash in.
In the fourth, Clay Jolley singled, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch, but Bale fanned Bryce Ware to end the inning.
In the fifth, Brock McGoogan led off with a walk and took third on a wild pitch and passed ball on consecutive pitches with Hodge batting.
However, Bale fanned Hodge for the first out, and McGoogan was cut down at the plate on a failed squeeze bunt.
"We had a couple of baserunning errors there where we had a man on second and we didn't go on a dropped third strike when the catcher threw it to first," Hammett said. "We just didn't take advantage of the few opportunities that we had. It was a good game. We've just got to find a way to get on base against somebody like that early in the year."
The Trojans themselves squandered a two-on, oneout opportunity in the seventh against Ware, who took over for Disotell, and Looney wasn't happy about the Trojans letting that opportunity slip away.
"There's some things in this game I'm not too happy about offensively," Looney said.
"We stranded a few in scoring position, and we didn't get the job done in the later innings. We were fortunate enough we scored a couple early in the ballgame."