Trojans split first two games of Boras Tournament

Oak Ridge High's varsity baseball team opened Sierra Foothill League play by being swept by Jesuit, but then returned the favor to Davis last week and then opened the Boras Tournament on Monday by splitting games against Benicia and West Park. The Trojans, as their 6-7 record shows, are trying to consistently play better baseball and are having some growing pains. The Trojans lost three games to Jesuit by the scores of 8-1, 4-0, and 10-3. "Jesuit's pitching stopped us and shut us down," Oak Ridge coach Todd Melton said. "They had good pitching in games one and two and game three just got away from us. Part of that is the youth on this team. We didn't finish games." Fortunately, Oak Ridge played better against Davis. "We played really well against Davis," Melton said. "They're struggling, but at the same time they're an SFL team. We broke out a little bit. Our hitting came around. Our pitching was pretty solid. Our defense, for the most part, was pretty good. We're still trying to improve every week. That's where we are at this point. We've got to put it together consistently in all areas of the game. We're close." In the opening game of the Boras, Oak Ridge did put things together in a solid 4-0 win over Benicia. The Trojans got solid pitching from Noah Nowaski, who pitched 5.2 innings and scattered seven hits but only walked one and struck out four. The Trojans also made a couple double plays which helped out Nowaski. Mason Newhouse came on to get the last four outs for Nowaski. Meanwhile, offensively, Jasen Womack hit a two-run double in the bottom of the third inning to put the Trojans out in front, following a single by Noah Teply and a walk from Dylan Busalacchi. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Antonio Montes de Oca blasted a solo home run over the left field wall to put the Trojans in front 3-0. The team's final run came on a Brody Timms' single that scored Hudson Vetter in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Trojans, however, lost their second game of the day to West Park, 8-6. West Park led 4-0 after three innings before the Trojans scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game. However, West Park kept pouring on the offense with three runs in the fifth and another run in the sixth. Oak Ridge put two more runs up in the bottom of the fifth, but couldn't keep up. Adrian Gallwitz tripled and knocked in three runs, while Timms had two hits and two RBIs in the loss. Oak Ridge's next game is at 4 p.m. Wednesday.