GAINESVILLE — With four starting pitchers sporting sub-1.00 ERAs, it’s easy to see why Class AAAA No.1-ranked Blessed Trinity is once again chugging toward another potential region title.
But Chestatee found out Friday that the Titans’ offense isn’t too shabby either.
Blessed Trinity roughed up eight War Eagles hurlers in the two games taking 16-0 and 12-1 victories in a Region 7-AAAA doubleheader at War Eagle Park. Game 1 lasted just five innings and Game 2 went just six.
After dropping a tight 4-1 decision to the Titans on Tuesday in Roswell, the War Eagles (8-15, 2-7 Region 7-AAAA) were hoping for some home-cooking with their two best arms on the mound for the twin-bill.
“We played pretty well on Tuesday but we didn’t do the little things you have to do when you play Blessed Trinity,” Chestatee coach Jon Brewer said.
The War Eagles were just the latest in a long line of region victims for the Titans. Blessed Trinity has not lost a single region game since 2014 (Region 6-AAA) and the two wins on Friday ran their streak to 36 in a row. The last region loss of any kind came against St. Pius in a 1-0 10-inning loss.
Against Chestatee, Blessed Trinity (18-3, 6-0) pounded out 26 hits and cranked a pair of home runs as Chestatee starters Austin Sargent and Braxton Nicholson were battered for seven hits and 11 runs in just five innings combined. Chestatee relievers fared even worse allowing 17 runs on 20 hits in six innings of work. Ronnie James was the only Chestatee pitcher not to yield a run retiring the only batter he faced in the first game.
“We pitched from behind virtually the entire time for both games,” Brewer said. “They were able to just sit and wait on fastballs. You have to mix things up and throw strikes. We didn’t do much of that at all.”
As for the Titans pitching, it lived up to its billing allowing just the one run and just five total hits in the doubleheader. Both Cole McNamee, who tossed a one-hitter in Game 1 and fanned six, and, Patrick McNamara, who allowed one run on three hits and struck out nine in Game 2, came in with ERAs under 1.00.
“They’ve got so many good arms. They just don’t give up much and make you work hard just for one run,” Brewer said.
Blessed Trinity has given up two runs or fewer in 16 of its 21 contests with five shutouts.
Despite the lopsided setback on Friday, Brewer said they are already moving on and preparing for what is essentially a three-game showdown with White County (3-16, 1-5) for the fourth spot in the region beginning on April 11. The War Eagles have never made the playoffs in baseball and Brewer said it is their ultimate goal.
“We have to start preparing for them because we’re still in a position to get into the playoffs,” he said. Brewer said. “We need to win two to give us the tiebreaker. Our focus is just on getting better and improving on the little things that will help us win games.”
Game 1
Both pitchers were tough in the opening frame. Sargent got the Titans in order in the first and McNamee responded in the bottom of the first, including getting Will Cantrell looking on a called third strike to end the inning.
But Sargent ran into serious trouble in the second. Five of the first six batters reached, highlighted by a three-run home run from Michael Weidner for a 5-0 lead. Sargent was touched for seven runs on four hits in the inning and was replaced by Gavin Cunningham with two outs. But Cunningham didn’t fare any better giving up a pair of doubles and two runs as the Titans sent 13 batters to the plate and led 9-0.
McNamee continued to stifle the Chestatee bats taking a no-hitter into the fifth inning while fanning four. Cunningham settled things down briefly for the War Eagles retiring seven of nine batters into the the fourth inning. But Blessed Trinity mounted a two-out rally with Weidner highlighting a three-run fourth with his third hit, and second double of the game, for a 12-0 lead.
Blessed Trinity extended the lead to 16-0 in the fifth with Weidner again doubling in a run. He finished Game 1 with four hits, four RBI, and 10 total bases. The Titans were big in the clutch going 6-for-12 with 14 RBI with runners-in-scoring-position in the first game.
The War Eagles’ Micah Flanagan broke up McNamee’s no-hit bid with a ripping double down the left field line to open the fifth inning. But McNamee got Reggie James to groundout and struck out Sean Irick and Atticus Tomcho to end the game.
Game 2
The Titans offense picked up where they left off in Game 1 jumping on Nicholson in the first inning. They got a hit batter and two hits to take a 2-0 lead, though Nicholson did strike out two in the inning.
Blessed Trinity looked ready to add on quickly in the second getting the first two batters on with a walk and hit-by-pitch. But Nicholson got a sacrifice bunt, a strikeout, and a flyout to center to get out of the jam to keep it at 2-0.
The Titans kept the pressure on in the third with a Jake Lundkovsky hit sandwiched between a pair of walks to load the bases. Nicholson limited the damage, though. He got Mickey Skole to ground into a fielder’s choice at home, Michael Markwordt popped to short, but a wild pitch allowed Lundkovsky to score to push the lead to 3-0. Nicholson fanned Weidner to end the inning to keep the War Eagles within striking distance.
Meanwhile, McNamara retired the first seven batters to begin the game. But the War Eagles finally broke through in the third.
Kyle Garrett broke up the streak reaching on a wild pitch on a swinging third strike with one out in the third. Tomcho followed with a single to center to put runners at first and second with one out. McNamara fanned Joe Sutton but Cooper Wilson beat out an infield single and an errant scoop throw trying to get Wilson at first allowed Garrett to score from second to cut the lead to 3-1. But that would be all they could muster
Things unraveled in the fourth. After a walk to Smith with one out, Nicholson was lifted for Will Cantrell, who was also greeted rudely by the Titans offense.
Ryan Davis drilled a two-strike pitch from Cantrell scoring Smith and CJ Davis followed with a RBI double for a 5-1 lead. Three batters later Skole smacked a three-run home run to extend the lead to 8-1.
Nicholson pitched well but a high pitch count limited him to just 3 1/3 innings, He allowed three hits and walked five but also struck out five and surrendered four runs.
“Braxton was probably the most effective guy we had all night,” Brewer said. “He mixed up his pitches and kept them off-balance. But he was over 70 pitches in three innings and we just didn’t want him to go any higher.”
Blessed Trinity added a pair of runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth off three more Chestatee relievers for a 12-1 lead. Titans reliever Clark Dearman closed out the second game allowing just a leadoff double by Sargent.
