Through three games of the high school baseball season, one thing has been consistent for the Trenton Bulldogs – the ill-fated “bad inning.”
In the case of the Bulldogs, it has been “bad innings.”
Save for two frames on Tuesday, Trenton looked pretty good. But the Bulldogs yielded a six-run fourth inning and a five-run seventh, allowing visiting Braymer to pick up a 16-6 victory at Burleigh Grimes Field.
“You look at the stats and it’s two innings,” Trenton Head Coach Andy Hight said. “Two innings decided the game.”
Trenton outhit Braymer 6-4 and outside of the top of the fourth and seventh innings, the Bulldogs outscored their opponents 6-5.
But things broke down in those two innings – a handful of walks and six Trenton errors proving to be costly.
“What happened in those innings was we walked guys and we made errors,” Hight said. “That’s kind of been the story through three games. If you don’t walk guys and you don’t make errors, the game is a lot easier. Those are the two biggest things that we have to clean up.”
Walks were an issue for both sides, especially early on. Trenton starter Sam Schilling issued five free passes through his three and one-third innings of work. Braymer starter Gabe Rogers walked 12 Bulldogs in three innings of work.
Braymer plated four runs in the first and second innings combined, scoring three of the runs on wild pitch/passed ball combinations by the Trenton battery. The Bulldogs tied the game at two in the bottom of the first, scoring both runs on bases-loaded walks, and Trenton tacked on another run in the bottom of the second when courtesy runner Chase Otto scored on a passed ball.
Both teams went scoreless in the third before Braymer broke out in the top of the fourth. Schilling wouldn’t complete the frame, his day ending at 90 pitches. Hunter Beverlin took over, but couldn’t stop the bleeding, allowing three runs to cross the plate despite not allowing a hit. It would be Otto next, who finally got Trenton out of the damaging frame.
Otto would fire three innings before yielding to Cole Schilling in the seventh in the midst of Braymer’s second big inning of the contest.
“I think when you looked at who was coming back this year, we felt pretty confident that, because we had a lot of guys returning, we would get off to a faster start than what we have,” Hight said. “But the truth of the matter is we are still really young and what we are trying to do – starting a program – there are going to be some bumps in the road. There is just no way around it. This team is still a good team, it’s a talented team. We just have to continue to work every day to get better and the more experience these kids get, the better we are going to be.”
In spite of the loss, Trenton’s offense set season-high marks for runs and hits – both six – and a double by Hunter Dugan was the team’s first extra-base hit of the season.
Dugan would lead Trenton at the plate, going one-for-one with the double, walking four times, driving in two runs and scoring two more. He stole five bases in the loss.
Hunter Beverlin followed, going two-for-two with two walks, an RBI and two steals and Jaren Whitney was one-for-three with two walks, an RBI and a stolen base. Colton Colston and Brice Gibler each had a hit in the game as well.
On the hill, Sam Schilling took the loss. He allowed one hit with his five walks, yielding seven runs, three of which were earned. He struck out six batters in his three and one-third innings of work.
With the loss, Trenton fell to 0-3 overall on the season.
UP NEXT
Trenton travels to Chillicothe on Thursday. The first pitch between the Bulldogs and Hornets is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.