Troy baseball falls to Mason in D-I district title game

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CENTERVILLE — It was going to end some time.

Which, didn’t make it any easier for Troy baseball coach Ty Welker to say goodbye to 16 seniors.

“We talked about that,” Welker said after Troy lost 9-3 to Mason, the second-ranked team in Ohio, in the D-I baseball district finals at Booster Park at Centerville High School. “62 wins in three years, two MVL titles. That is a pretty strong resume.”

And the Trojans, 22-8, battled to the end against the 26-4 Comets.

Troy led 2-1 after one inning and could have easily been leading 3-2 after two — instead of trailing 5-2.

In the Mason first, Troy had a chance for a double play and didn’t get it — and the first run scored on a passed ball on a strikeout when the ball went to the screen.

In the second Brian Allen retired the first two Mason batters before the next six batters reached base. When the score was tied 2-2, a foul pop that could have ended the inning fell.

“We had the first two batters out and an 0-2 count on the batter,” Welker said. “Then give up a hit on the next pitch.”

Troy had taken a 2-1 lead in the home first.

Connor Hutchinson walked and Ryder Kirtley had a one-out single.

Hayden Frey’s fielder’s choice scored one run and Matthew Hempker had a RBI single.

But, the Mason second turned into a four-run inning.

In the Troy second, Eli Donnan doubled, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Hutchinson’s sacrfice fly to make it 5-3.

But, Troy would not score again.

Troy had runners on base in six of the seven innings.

Allen,, Trayce Mercer, Jacob Lucas and Connor Hutchinson combined to walk seven, hit two batters and stikeout three.

And in the Mason seventh, catcher Owen Harlamert turned an amazing double play.

He threw to first baseman Frey for an out than hustled back to home plate, took a throw from Frey and made a diving tag on a runner trying to score.

Eli Smith made a running catch at the fence in left field to end the fourth inning, with two runners on.

“I thought we battled the entire game,” Welker said. “It would have been easy to put our heads down and we didn’t do that.”

Just something else to add to the resume.

You can reach Sports Editor Rob Kiser at [email protected]

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