BASEBALL: Red hot Trojans trample Harlan 11-1

It was Cole Petersen who started the game’s scoring when he smashed a 3-1 fastball over the left field fence with two down in the bottom of the first inning. VanCleave would hold Harlan scoreless into the fourth, but even when Cyclones leftfielder Adam Musich would drive in Eric Croghan with an RBI double, the Trojans wouldn’t be without the lead for long as Atlantic answered back in the bottom half of the fourth with a run to take the lead for good.

VanCleave earned the victory on the hill for the Trojans, the senior No. 1 starter throwing four innings where he allowed three hits, one run, three walks and struck out five. VanGinkle pitched the final two innings for Atlantic without allowing a run or a hit, striking out three and surrendering one walk.

With a growing confidence in his pitching staff that has had to adjust after losing their ace, coach Petersen says his two senior right-handers did what was asked and were helped along tremendously by the Trojans’ offensive pop.

“The big thing is our guys need to throw strikes, and our offense put them in a position where it becomes easier to throw when you’re up by five or six runs,” coach Petersen said. “That’s what our offense needs to do, make it easier for them.”

Atlantic got base runners aboard in every inning and produced multiple hits in every frame except for the third. Cole Petersen finished with four hits while John Cord and Russ Fairfield each ended up with three apiece and Jeff Gude collected a pair of singles to make it four Trojans with multi-hit efforts against Harlan.

“The biggest satisfaction is seeing our guys go to bat and feeling good in the (batter’s) box,” coach Petersen said. “We’ve seen it the other way and that’s a helpless feeling if you’re not comfortable. Half the battle is the confidence factor and tonight, we looked pretty comfy in the box.”

Perhaps most remarkable outside of Petersen’s four extra base hits was Fairfield three hits and five RBI. Such run production is an anomaly for a No. 9 hitter, but Fairfield has been making noise at the bottom of the order.

“Russ has had some big hits for us this year,” coach Petersen said. “Against Kuemper and against Shenandoah, he’s come through for us. He did again tonight.”

The knockout punch came in the fifth inning when Fairfield hit a fly ball to right field, a shot that wasn’t picked up right away by right fielder Mike Bruck. With the bases loaded, two down and full count, the runners were off with the pitch and when the hit fell, two runs scored and turned a 3-1 dogfight into a 5-1 lead for Atlantic.

Two pitches later, junior Brandon Schuler knocked a homerun over the left field fence to drive in another three runs and push Atlantic ahead 8-1.

An inning later in the sixth, the Trojans sent seven batters to the plate and pushed the lead to 10 runs at 11-1 with Fairfield’s two-RBI single through the left side of the infield.

The victory improves Atlantic’s record to 14-5 overall and 9-3 in the Hawkeye 10. All three conference losses came to teams ahead of them in the standings as Denison, Glenwood and Harlan all still hold a slight advantage.

Monday night’s loss drops Harlan to 7-2 in the Hawkeye 10 while the other two have lost just once.

With Denison and Glenwood still on the docket and the season split sealed with Harlan, the Trojans’ shot at a Hawkeye 10 Conference title is still very much alive.

“Every Hawkeye 10 game we have coming up is going to be tough as nails,” coach Petersen said. “We’re going to have to have this same kind of intensity and play the same kind of game we played tonight if we are to be successful.”

Up Next:

Atlantic will travel to Lewis Central Tuesday night (weather permitting) and will return home Wednesday for a non-conference meeting with Perry.