By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
The Timothy Christian baseball team ditched the bad Illinois weather for Florida over spring-break week.
The Trojans went to the Disney World area where they played a variety of competition from different states. Timothy started the week with a 12-2 loss to Strong Rock Christian out of Georgia.
Timothy scored single runs in the first and third innings and was limited to four hits, while committing six errors.
The Trojans scored in the first inning when Harrison Stanton reached on an error and moved to second on Jimmy Allen’s hard groundball-single to left. Nick Huisman hit a sharp grounder up the middle to score Stanton. Timothy’s other run came in the third inning. Trent Marrera and Stanton reached on consecutive singles. Allen grounded out, advancing the runners. Connor Gwaltney’s groundout scored Marrera. Huisman took the loss.
“Strong Rock Christian stymied our batters and their fielders made all the plays,” said Timothy assistant coach Jim Boven.
The Trojans then lost 10-0 in six innings to Clarksville Academy out of Tennessee. The Trojans had two hits, both singles by Garrett Pullen and Brady Klooster. Timothy also lost standout Allen for what the team believes to be a three-to-five-week stretch due to a broken nose suffered in an outfield collision. Jakob Loerop was the losing pitcher.
The Trojans also dropped a 4-3 game to Sidwell Friends School out of Washington, D.C.
After giving up a run in the top of the first, the Trojans came back with two runs in the bottom half. Marrera reached first on an error and Stanton singled to right. Huisman singled to load the bases, but Standon rounded second too far and was thrown out. Loerop walked to reload the bases and Thomas Becvar hit a grounder and reached on an error by the shortstop that allowed Marrera and Huisman to score.
Sidwell scored two more in the third and one in the fourth to take a 4-2 lead. Timothy scored in the fifth when Huisman reached on an error and moved to third when Loerop reached on an error. Becvar then hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Huisman with the team’s final run. Timothy had six hits. Pullen took the loss. Loerop had a double.
Timothy also lost 18-13 to Shipley out of Pennsylvania in a game that featured 29 hits and eight errors.
Marrera had three hits, including two doubles. Loerop had three hits and two RBI. Gwaltney had two hits (including a double) and two RBI. Ethan Roemmich had a triple.
The game was tied 3-3 after one inning. Shipley led 5-4 after two innings, while Timothy led 10-8 after three. Shipley scored eight in the fourth to take a 16-10 lead it would not relinquish. Becvar took the loss.
Timothy wrapped up the trip with a 9-0 win over Allegheny Clarion Valley out of Pennsylvania. Marrera pitched a complete-game shutout, striking out nine while allowing only four hits.
Timothy took a 2-0 lead in the first inning when Stanton singled, Gwaltney walked (Brady Klooster ran as the courtesy runner) and Huisman singled. Huisman’s hit scored Stanton. Loerop walked to load the bases and Bevcar singled, driving in Klooster.
Roemmich led off the fourth with a single and moved to third when John Tazelaar singled. Roemmich scored on a wild pitch.
The Trojans broke the game open with five runs in the fifth. Loerop reached on an error and advanced to third on Becvar’s single. Pullen singled, scoring Loerop and moving Becvar to third. Roemmich singled scoring Becvar with Pullen advancing to third. Pullen then scored on a Tazelaar sacrifice fly. Stanton tripled to score Roemmich. Gwaltney was hit by a pitch (Klooster came in to courtesy run). Huisman hit a high fly ball that was dropped and allowed Stanton to score.
In the sixth, Sebastian Bravo reached on an error and Tazelaar was hit by a pitch. Marrera then singled to center to score Bravo and conclude the Timothy scoring.
Timothy had 11 hits in the contest.
