Day 5-Game Day (finally!)

Tuesday morning started out much like Monday morning, although we rolled out of bed a bit earlier and hit the Grand Park practice fields at 9:00 for some infield/outfield drills, pitchers fielding drills, and pop fly communication drills. After about an hour, we drove over to the Ripken facility for pitcher/catcher work, more hitting in the cages, and some lighthearted whiffleball competition.

After a solid three hours of practice, we grabbed some lunch at Sonic/Chick-fil-A, spent some time walking around the outlet mall, and sat around chilling by the pool at the motel.

Our first game was against Riverdale Baptist. We had done a little research on them and knew they were a very good team with a long history of winning and they showed us just that in the bottom of the first inning as they jumped off to a 4-0 lead off Trojan starter Chris Ridolphi. They extended their lead by adding a single run in the 2nd and three more in the 3rd when the Trojans just missed executing an inning-ending double play.

In the top of the 4th inning, the Trojans finally broke through on the hit column with Luke Davidson and Ridolphi both notching singles, but were unable to push across a run.

After the Crusaders picked up another run in the bottom of the 4th to make it 9-0, the Trojans got down to business. Justin VanderNaald and Alex Johnson picked up back to back singles and Philip Stanton walked to load the bases with one out. Alex Zarek grounded out for the 2nd out, but by putting the ball in play he allowed VanderNaald to score from 3rd for the 1st Trojan run of the game.  After a Davidson walk, Matt Robinson ripped a single that scored Johnson to bring the score to 9-2.

Riverdale Baptist was able to pick up single runs in the 5th and 6th to extend their lead to 11-2 going into the 7th, but the Trojans weren't done yet.  Ben Zastrow ripped a double down the left-field line and Davidson followed with a single to move him to 3rd.  Robinson came through with another big hit, roping a double to plate two runs.  A few batters later, Ethan Bardolph came up to plate Robinson that brought the scoring to an end.  The scoreboard stood at 11-5 in favor of the Crusaders.

On the mound, Ridolphi picked up four strikeouts while Johnson sat down a pair as each hurler tossed three innings.  Offensively, the Trojans were led by Davidson (2-3, BB, R), Robinson (2-4, 2B, 3 RBI), Meyer (2-4), VanderNaald (2-3, R), Johnson (2-4, R), and Zastrow (1-1, 2B, R).

Tomorrow, we play games at noon and 3 p.m. There is a slight chance that there will be live updates during the game, so check back for potential in-game updates!

Tonight's Wooden phrase: Make friendship a fine art.

Pictures from the day: