Bulldogs Come Up Short In Duel

Inning after inning, Trenton’s Sam Schilling and Pattonsburg’s Connor Ireland retired batter after batter.
A pitcher’s duel that saw no runs scored in the first four innings ultimately went Pattonsburg’s way as the visiting Panthers had a little more offense in the end. Trenton, with a 3-1 home loss on Monday at Burleigh Grimes Field, dropped to .500 in Grand River Conference play at 3-3.
“As a manager, if I could coach a game, this is the kind of game that I like,” Trenton Head Coach Joel Hultman said. “I don’t like the 14-16 games. I love the low-scoring, let’s bunt, let’s move guys over, let’s put some pressure on the defense, let’s pitch well type games. We believed we were going to win right up until the very end. The scoreboard wasn’t on our side, but we got better and this type of game is what is going to make us better over the long haul and help produce a pretty good program.”
Pattonsburg broke the scoring drought in the top of the fifth, plating the game’s first run on a wild pitch. The Panthers added a second run on a home run in the top of the sixth before Trenton got its own offense up and going.
Royce Jackson doubled to give the Bulldogs their first hit of ballgame and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Jaren Whitney. Tanner Lynch drove a double in his at-bat, scoring Jackson and bringing Trenton to within a single run. The Bulldogs wouldn’t get another mark on the scoreboard, however, as Lynch was stranded on third base.
Pattonsburg added an insurance run in the top of the seventh and had runners at the corners with no outs,. But Whitney, who relieved Schilling in the sixth, coaxed a pair of pop-ups and a ground-out to keep Pattonsburg from doing any more damage.
Schilling (1-3) took the loss on the hill despite allowing just two runs on four hits and three walks while striking out nine in five and two-thirds innings.
“Sam pitched great,” Hultman said. “If we could bottle that up and give it to him every day, give it to us as a team, we would do that every single game. He was locating his fastball, he had nine strikeouts and used his pitch count the best he could. (Pattonsburg) had a couple of doinks, we dropped a fly ball and they were able to score a couple of runs.”
Whitney allowed one run on two hits and two walks with no strikeouts in one and one-thirds innings.
At the plate, Lynch and Jackson had the only two hits for the Bulldogs.
vs. LINN COUNTY
On Tuesday, Trenton traveled to Purdin to take on Linn County. It was the sixth game in six days for the Bulldogs and the wear began to show as Trenton dropped the contest 17-2.
Trenton managed just three hits in the loss, coming off the bats of Schilling, Jackson and Jerrick Stotts. Jackson and Schilling each scored once in the game.
Chase Otto (1-3) took the loss on the hill, allowing four runs, three earned, on five hits. He issued no walks and struck out one. Otto worked just the first inning and only used 19 pitches, keeping him available for Thursday’s road match-up with Grand River Conference opponent Putnam County.
Trenton used three different pitchers the rest of the way. The trio of Logan Stanton, Stotts and Preston Harris allowed 13 runs, but only six were earned as Trenton’s defense struggles, committing five errors in the game.
“Six games in six days was tough,” Hultman said. “Our defense was not very good. Our pitching was good, but the thing is, (Linn County) hit the ball. They can flat out hit and our defense just is not where it needs to be and it needs to get better really, really quick. Our offense is limited and that’s why our pitching and defense has to be good.”
Trenton fell to 5-8 overall on the season with the two losses.
Trenton traveled to Putnam County for a GRC game on Thursday. The Bulldogs will travel to St. Joseph Christian for another GRC contest on Monday.