Don’t look now, but the West Marion Trojans are slowly staking their claim as a threat in Class 3A despite their youth and inexperience.
The Trojans (11-7, 4-0) had won seven games in a row heading into Tuesday night’s action and are starting to peak at right time with the playoffs right around the corner.
Coming off its sweep of Perry Central to begin Region 8-3A play, West Marion kept the momentum rolling with a tough, two-game sweep of St. Patrick last week.
In a pitchers’ duel March 23 in Biloxi, the Trojans rode strong pitching and aggressive baserunning to a 3-2 win over the Fighting Irish in Game 1. Jude Stringer drew the start and allowed no runs on just one hit in three innings but walked five. Jacob Buffalo went the rest of the way, striking out five while allowing two unearned runs on one hit and one walk. Head coach Derrick Jerkins said he was really proud of the way Buffalo settled in and got stronger as the game went on to shut the door.
West Marion scratched its first run across in the top of the first when Jonathan Miller reached on an error to score Cole Crozier, who led off the game with a single. The Trojans went up 2-0 in the third inning on a Buffalo walk and 3-0 in the fourth on a Kollin Green groundout. While the Trojans only managed a pair of singles, they drew eight walks and moved runners over when they needed to.
“We faced Otis Brooks, who (is) their ace and one of the better arms we’ve seen all year, and we did just enough offensively to win the game,” Jerkins said. “We really cleaned the defense up. We’re not striking a lot of people out this year on the mound, so we’re having to play good defense. For the most part, we’re playing really good defense. That’s the name of the game for us, pitching and defense.”
Game 2 Friday was a much different story as all five of West Marion’s hits were doubles in an 8-6 victory to earn the sweep. Jude Stringer doubled twice to lead the way, while Crozier, Miller and Eli Street also doubled.
Trace McDonald earned the victory on the bump, fanning five batters and allowing two earned runs in four innings. Crozier picked up a two-inning save, striking out two in a pair of hitless, shutout innings.
The biggest knock on West Marion’s offense this year has been the lack of extra-base hits outside of Tre Broom’s, so it was definitely good to see for Jerkins. He said a couple of the doubles were hustle doubles, but those produce the same result as a ball hit to the fence in the gap nonetheless.
“One thing about our team this year, it’s a pretty tough group. They play the game hard, and they play the game the right way. A couple of those were guys just hustling out of the box and making it a hustle double,” he said.
West Marion kept the momentum rolling into Saturday when they beat North Pike 12-0 in a game that lasted just five innings. The Trojans had production up and down the lineup, led by Green (3 RBI), Broom (2 RBI) and Jude Stringer with two singles each. McDonald had the lone extra-base knock with a two-run double, and Street plated two runs with a single.
While the offense was superb, it wasn’t as impressive as what eighth-grader Kolby Stringer did on the mound. The righty limited North Pike to just two hits and struck out four in a dominant performance. Jerkins said he expects Kolby Stringer to have a great career for West Marion baseball.
“He’s very mature for his age. He doesn’t let the moment get too big for him, especially being an eighth grader,” he said. “He’s struggled a little bit this year throwing strikes, but he was a lot better (Saturday). He went five innings in just 67 pitches and gave up only two hits.”
One thing that intrigues Jerkins about Kolby Stringer is what it allows him to do with the West Marion defense on the mound. That showed Saturday with the Trojans playing really well defensively.
“It was probably the best we’ve played all year,” Jerkins said. “I knew early in the year with a young team and a new group that we may struggle at times, but I felt confident as the year went on we would get better and better. Right now we’re playing the best baseball we’ve played all year, and I hope that it continues to go in the right direction. I feel pretty comfortable it will.”
West Marion began a two-game series with Seminary on the road Tuesday, but results were unavailable at press time. The Trojans will play host to Seminary Friday before a non-district game Saturday at Northeast Jones.
