Trojans baseball had a slow start at the River Valley Tournament in Arizona, going 1-4.
“The tournament was a rough weekend for us,” Trojans coach Brian Hayes said. “We struggled in all aspects of the game. Our pitching struggled to throw strikes, allowing 21 walks and defensively we made 15 errors, which allowed 15 unearned runs.”
Pitching and defense seemed to be the main problems as the Trojans (2-4 overall) lost to Mingus (Arizona) 13-0, Page (Arizona) 10-3, Corner Canyon (Utah) 10-1 and Lake Havasu (Arizona) 8-5.
The team’s only win came against Greyhills Academy (15-0).
“There were some positives though,” Hayes said. “Many of our underclassmen gained some valuable experience. Parker Hart (junior outfielder/pitcher) emerged as a middle of the order hitter and he should see some better pitches with the return of Shelton Cajudoy (senior first baseman). I think our team learned the importance of striving to reach our game goals.”
Hayes is big on the goals. Some of the main ones are keeping the runs scored by the opponents to three and the fielding errors to under 5.
The Trojans were in Virgin Valley (1-3 Sunrise League) on Tuesday and beat them 8-1.
Cajudoy came back to the lineup in a big way with a three-run home run in his first at bat.
Hart had two hits, Drew Walker and Kyle Kral each had a double.
“We are still searching for some answers, both offensively and defensively in certain positions and hope that someone steps up in the next couple of weeks to be the answer to those question marks,” Hayes said.
The team is at Western today and Clark at home for their first home game on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com