Trojans drop heartbreaker to No. 3 ranked Denison

It was immediately unclear whether the ball proved fair or not, and when neither umpire appeared eager to signal one way or another, Petersen proved livid. Shortly after the home plate umpire indicated homerun, jabbering from the Atlantic dugout resulted in Petersen’s ejection, the culmination in a contentious relationship with the men in blue on this night.

The blast brought Denison within one run at 5-4, and one hit and two straight walks after Petersen’s dismissal loaded the bases with nobody out, chasing VanCleave from the game. James VanGinkle worked in relief for Atlantic and walked in a run but proved relatively stout in damage control by recording a line-drive out on a rocket towards his head and then induced a 1-2-3 double play to end the inning with the game tied.

Afterwards, Petersen says VanGinkle’s management of a dire situation proved a silver lining as the Trojans look to establish pitching depth.

“James looked good, he had good pop around the zone tonight,” Petersen said. “We need him to be more consistent with a second pitch and then I think he’ll be tough as nails.”

VanGinkle threw three innings for Atlantic, allowing one earned run on two hits while striking out three.

Atlantic got a run and the lead back in the bottom of the fifth when John Cord led the inning off with a hit-by-pitch and parlayed that into the go-ahead run.

In the top of the sixth, more trouble brew for the Trojans as a VanGinkle provoked a leadoff fly out and then a strikeout in the dirt that reached on a throwing error to first that would eventually score. Denison would get two more runs across in the sixth to jump out for good 7-6.

“We run out of steam and we don’t get a break here or there, so be it,” Petersen said. “It was a tight game, the kind of game you hope like heck you can find a way to pull it out one way or another.”

Atlantic’s offense proved sturdy against Denison as the Trojans hammered out nine hits, three of them coming from VanCleave who finished a homerun short of a cycle.

The senior shortstop and pitcher has been heating up at the dish as of late and is providing Atlantic with one of the best three hitter stretch of any lineup in the Hawkeye 10 with their No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 batters.

“He was a little slow out of the chutes but now he’s crushing the heck out of the ball,” Petersen says of VanCleave. “And that’s exactly what we need, strong play from our senior leadership.”

An emotional loss followed an emotional win from Monday night over Lewis Central, and the Trojans will look to rebound Thursday after seeing their three-game winning streak snapped.

Petersen says he’s a little concerned about a hangover against Red Oak, but thinks this is the kind of contest that will build character, and the team will learn from this.

“We’ll look towards Red Oak on Thursday,” Petersen said. “Now we’re learning that when we find ourselves in a tight setting like this, we need to find ways to do the small things better. Those small things are—right now—the difference between us being a good team and an average one.”