By: Zachary Harnischfeger GREECE, NY--- The Greece Athena Trojans baseball team came into the game looking to bounce back from an eight-inning 3-2 loss over Batavia on Monday. Dominant pitching and timely hitting led the Trojans to a 4-1 victory over their rival the Hilton Cadets.
"We just needed a bounce back after yesterday," Greece Athena head coach Tim Sova said. "It's not how we wanted to finish that one off yesterday. We couldn't quite get the runs across when we could. Today, we did a little bit better with small ball. We got a sac fly at one point and sacrifice bunt and did things we needed to do to get the win today.
The Trojans got on the board first in the bottom of the second after catcher Giovanni Stewart knocked in center fielder Connor Osier with a single to give the Trojans the 1-0 lead.
The Cadets answered back in the top of the third after designated hitter Andrew Lenhard drove in third basemen Steven Kraus on a double. Lenhard finished the game 2-for-3 with an RBI. This would be the only run the Cadets would score in the game.
In the bottom of the third, after a leadoff triple by third basemen Ryan Grasley, second basemen Parker Goodness singled and brought home Grasley to give the Trojans the 2-1 lead. Later in the inning, designated hitter Thomas Rankin drove in Goodness on a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 3-1.
"The first pitch was there so I was just like you got to drive it and I got the job done," Goodness said.
The Trojans scored their fourth and final run in the bottom of the fifth after Osier singled and brought home shortstop Samuel Saucke.
Junior pitcher Derrick Allen got the start for the Trojans and pitched a complete game allowing one run on five hits while walking two and striking out 10. Allen knows that the offense always has his back when he gets the start.
"It's been great," Allen said. "They know that I am going to go out there and throw strikes and if they just give me two runs, it's going to be a hell of a game."
With the win the Trojans improve to 14-5 on the season. Sova feels good about where the team is and is looking to end the regular season on a high note.
"Obviously you want to win every game, so we are going to try to do that tomorrow," Sova said. "Go into sectionals feeling good about how we're playing. But we also got to see where we are at. If we're locked into a spot that might determine how we play things tomorrow, but overall we are trying to win."
The Trojans wrap up the regular season when they hit the road and travel to Webster Thomas to take on the Titans tomorrow at 5 p.m.
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