TROY — The Troy baseball team returned from Georgia for a battle of MVL unbeatens with Butler Friday night at the Market Street diamond.
And while the Trojans nearly matched the Aviators at the plate, the timing of the hits was off in a 7-3 loss that dropped Troy to 8-2 overall and 5-1 in the MVL. Vandalia improved to 9-1 overall and 6-0 in the MVL.
Butler outhit Troy 9-8 and the Trojans had four errors.
“I don’t think the errors are really the story,” Troy baseball coach Ty Welker said. “It came down to us not hitting the ball with runners in scoring position. We had 12 at bats with runners in scoring position and were 1-for-12. You are not going to win doing that.”
The Trojans battled to the end.
A RBI single by Eli Donnan had gotten Troy to within 3-1 in the fourth inning.
Down 7-1, they threatened in the sixth, leaving runners on second and third.
In the seventh, bases loaded walks to Ryder Kirtley and Donnan made it 7-3 and brought the tying run to the plate with one out.
But, Butler got two strikeouts to end the game.
“We went down swinging,” Welker said. “I am proud of that.”
He said the trip to Georgia was a positive.
“Whenever you get to spend 24-7 together, it is a good bonding experience,” he said. “We had a realy positive experience. Everybody in the dugout knows this was not our team tonight. We are not normally going to have four errors. We just have to get ready for Monday (at Vandalia-Butler).”
Trayce Mercer was 2-for-3 with two doubles, while Hayden Frey was 2-for-3.
Mercer, Jacob Lucas and Evan Kaiser combined on a 10-hitter, striking out seven and walking five.
Piqua 10,
W. Carrollton 8
WEST CARROLLTON — Mickey Anderson had a big game at the plate as the Piqua baseball team defeated West Carrollton in MVL action Friday.
Anderson was 5-for-5 with a triple and three RBIs.
Trenton Rudd added a double and two RBIs, as Piqua took advantage of 11 West Carrollton walks.
Anderson, Hunter Steinke, Brady Ouhl and Evan Hensler combined on a seven-hitter, striking out eight and walking six.
Tippecanoe 11,
Greenville 0
TIPP CITY — The Tippecanoe baseball team got an MVL win in five innings.
Braydon Bottles was 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs.
Preston Zumwalt, Tyler Minnich and DJ Martin were all 2-for-3.
Josh Dietz was 2-for-2 with a double.
Matt Salmon pitched a two-hitter, striking out six.
Troy Christian 3,
Miami East 2
CASSTOWN — The two teams finished off a suspended game as Troy Christian remained perfect on the season.
Lucas Day was 2-for-3 and Ben Major was 2-for-3 with a triple.
Matthew Major had a double.
Day pitched an eight-hitter, striking out 13 and walking one.
Bradford 13,
Botkins 1
BOTKINS — The Bradford baseball team picked up a non-conference win Friday.
Tucker Miller was 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs.
Parker Davidson was 2-for-4 and Landon Wills was 4-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.
Hudson Hill was 2-for-4 and Owen Canan had two RBIs.
Miller, Keaton Mead and Dalton Skinner combined on a two-hitter, with eight strikeouts and four walks.
SATURDAY
Piqua 9,
Urbana 3
PIQUA — The Piqua baseball team won a non-conference game at Hardman Field.
Mickey Anderson was 2-for-3 with three RBIs.
Brayden Offenbacher had a double and two RBIs and Brennan Johns and Owen Shalwer all had two RBIs.
Zane Pratt and Trenton Laughman combined on an eight-hitter, striking out five and walking three.
Fort Loramie 17,
Troy Christian 10
Versailles 14,
Troy Christian 4
FORT LORAMIE — The Troy Christian baseball team suffered its first two losses of the season.
Against Loramie, Camden Koukol had four RBIs and Matthew Major had a home run and two RBIs.
Ben Major was 3-for-3 and Gavin Blore and Connor Frye were both 2-for-4.
Against Versailles, Koukol had a home run and three RBIs and Lucas Day was 2-for-3 with a double.
Bradford 5,
Milton-Union 4
Bradford 15,
Milton-Union 5
BRADFORD — The Bradford baseball team swept a doubleheader.
In the opener, Tucker Miller was 2-for-2, Landon Wills had two RBIs and Brenden Baker doubled.
Wills, Keaton Mead and Dalton Skinner combined on a nine-hitter, striking out seven and walking three.
Micah Russell was 2-for-3 with a double for Milton-Union.
Ben Schommer was 2-for-4 and Nathan Thompson had a double and two RBIs.
Nathan Morter Jr. was 2-for-2.
Peyton Nichols hurled a five-hitter, striking out six and walking one.
In the second game, Miller was 3-for-5 with three RBIs.
Landon Monnin was 2-for-5 with two RBIs and Mead was 2-for-4 with a double.
Baker was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, Parker Davidson had two RBIs and Wills was 3-for-4.
Skinner and Mead combined on the pitching effort.
Morter Jr. was 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs for Milton-Union.
Russell, Nick Walters and Thompson combined to strikeout one and walk seven.
