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Trojans ten-run rule Red Oak
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Senior Nick Hinzmann belts two homeruns and earns complete game victory on hill as Atlantic rolls to 14-4 triumph
By Drew Herron
NT Sports Editor
ATLANTIC— So much for a letdown.
The Trojans shed any loitering effects from Tuesday night’s collapse against No. 3 ranked Denison and gave Red Oak what for on Thursday night, trouncing the Tigers 14-4 in a shortened six-inning episode.
Senior right-hander Nick Hinzmann threw six strong innings to earn the pitching victory, but more impressively belted two homeruns and reached base and scored in all four plate appearances as Atlantic improves to 4-3 in the Hawkeye 10 and a 9-4 record overall. Red Oak drops to 0-4 in conference play and 2-7 overall.
“He’s seeing the ball really well right now,” said Atlantic assistant coach Terry Hinzmann, who was filling in for Trojans head man Trace Petersen against Red Oak. “They all did tonight, it’s just that maybe Nick got the right pitches and got a hold of them.”
Atlantic tagged Red Oak for 14 runs on nine hits and tore the game open in the fifth inning when they sent 12 batters to the plate and scored seven runs in that frame while the Tigers’ pitchers struggled with their control, walking four batters and hit another while throwing two wild pitches.
The final two innings proved particularly devastating for Red Oak as the Trojans turned a 5-4 lead into a 10-run route in the fifth and sixth on just four hits as Red Oak faltered, committing three errors in the sixth inning alone.
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After a relatively tight contest early on, the flood gates opened on the rain-soaked field.
“In all fairness, some of those were errors that managed to move our runners along and developed into runs,” coach Hinzmann said. “But we were able to take advantage of their mistakes, and that’s something we always haven’t been able to do.”
Atlantic got on the board first with Hinzmann’s one-out solo homerun over the right-center field fence in the second. Two batters later, senior Jeff Gude beat out an infield single and both James VanGinkle and Chet Meneely drew two out walks before leadoff man Brandon Schuler knocked a two-RBI single to left.
The Trojans jumped out 3-0 and never trailed.
In the top of the third, Hinzmann gave back two runs to Red Oak but homered in his next at bat, sending his second homerun to almost the same spot between the right field fence and the southern-most wall of the Nishna Valley YMCA.
It’s been a power-fueled week at the plate for Hinzmann, who belted his first career homerun during the Trojans Baseball Tournament on Saturday before notching two Thursday.
After surrendering a two-run homerun in the fourth to Red Oak’s Brad Niemann that would draw the Tigers within one run at 5-4, Hinzmann settled down and held Red Oak in check the rest of the way, yielding three more hits and three walks but no runs the final three innings. Over that span, Hinzmann rang up five Red Oak hitters.
It was a strong finish after an adequate start.
“We weren’t real sharp early, we came out a little more flat than I would have liked to see,” coach Hinzmann said. “However, that changed. A couple homeruns and some key hits got things going.”
The Trojans will take the weekend off before resuming Hawkeye 10 Conference play Monday at Carroll Kuemper, the first of six games next week for the team.
Game Notes:
Leadoff man Brandon Schuler drove in three runs in the victory, two of them coming on his single to left in the second inning and another on a sacrifice fly in the fifth.
Cole Petersen went 2-for-4 at the plate with a pair of late inning singles.
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| Softball: Trojanns split twin bill with Red Oak |
