Posted on March 23, 2017.
By Thomas Sellers Jr.
Trojan third baseman Tommy Clifton doesn’t apply the tag in time on a Pope John Paul base runner during Friday night’s game at USA Stadium.
The Millington Trojans have seen a variety of opposition during the opening week of baseball in the state of Tennessee. Union City, MHEA and Dyersburg were the teams the Trojans competed against entering Friday night’s sort of home opener against the Pope John Paul Knights at USA Stadium. Millington was finally playing in Flag City, but taking on one of the best teams in the Volunteer State led by Memphis committee Ben Brooks. Brooks and the Knights manufactured runs here and there coming up with a total of seven. Meanwhile the Trojans couldn’t piece together hits ending up the night scoreless. Pope John Paul left USA Stadium owners of a 7-0 victory over Millington. “It’s been a struggle at the plate,” Trojans Head Coach Zane Adams said. “We can’t get timely hits at the plate when we need them. We’ve been taking too many pitches. But we’ve got one win this week. It came against MHEA. We got some hits. We’ve thrown the ball well, but just can’t get the hit when we need the hit.” Pope John Paul only had one hit in the first inning while scoring 2 runs. The Knight were ahead 3-0 after three innings. Pope John Paul iced the game in the fifth inning with 4 runs. Millington starter Chase Wolfe only gave up two hits during the frame. Trojan errors and miscues led to a 7-0 deficit in the fifth inning. “We hit a little bit better tonight,” Adams noted. “We just couldn’t play defense. It’s either we can’t hit or we don’t make the routine plays. We’ve got to put it all together.” Adams is trying to piece it together with a roster full of young players. A combination of 15 freshmen and sophomores saw action during the opening week. Seniors like Garrett Dooley and Jordan Tincher have been leaders by example from the mound. Tincher had a solid performance pitching and hitting against Dyersburg. “I’ve had some young guys step up,” Adams said. “Chase came out here tonight against one of the better teams we’ll face all year and threw the ball really well.
I’ve had some younger guys doing some things,” he concluded. “Seth is hitting the ball real well. Dooley threw the ball really well Monday night. It’s been a mixture of things. We’ve just got to put it all together.”
