By HUNTER O. LYLE
ELDRED, PA – Staring down from the mound, DJ Collins held the weight of the game in his hand.
Up by two, with two outs and with a Red Raider eagerly standing on third, the Otto-Eldred baseball team’s comeback rested on just a few more well-placed pitches. Down range, Cameron County’s Gage Trumpie, who had already tallied two runs batted in during his two trips to the plate, looked back at him in anticipation.
Ball one. Strike one. On pitch No. 3, Collins pounded the zone and Trumpie found contact, but not a gap. Popping a high-arching shot above the infield, the final swing of the day was fielded cleanly by the Terrors, sealing their redemption in the form of a 9-7 come-from-behind win over the Red Raiders.
“DJ is a first-year player but he’s a guy that I can trust to throw strikes. For pitchers for me, that’s number one,” said Otto-Eldred head coach Lance Baker. “I trust DJ to throw strikes. He, in no way, blows you away with his velocity but he fills it up, he throws strikes and we played good defense behind him.”
After meeting just about a month prior, in which O-E earned their first win of the season at 7-5 in hostile territory, the rematch initially favored the Red and White. While both teams managed to put the ball in play through an empty inaugural inning, Cam Co would refuse to hang another zero as they entered the second.
Leading off the frame was Isaac Grovanz, who nabbed his first hit of the day via a lofty double to center field. One stolen base and one out later, he was streaking across home plate, being brought in by a single from Trumpie. Tacking on their second out immediately after, the Terrors then saw the deficit grow as an error in the infield gave up the second run of the afternoon.
O-E’s response was a muted one, being dispatched with two men on base. However, after retiring Cam Co in just three to start the third, they then began chipping away at the lead in earnest.
Getting back to the top of the order, Michael Sheeler found himself on base after his poise at the plate earned him a walk to first. After stealing second, his attempt to reach third garnered a Red Raider overthrow, giving him ample time to round the corner and score the Terrors’ first run of the day. Putting two more men on base with back-to-back walks, O-E’s tight base running swiftly found them in scoring position, setting the stage for Macaibe Splain to score off a Wyatt Blendinger sacrifice grounder.
“We’ve wanted to be more aggressive on the bases than we have in the past. I’ve got guys with good speed, guys that are starting to trust themselves and just be athletes and trust their instincts on the field,” said Baker. “I’ve got a few guys that have the green light. I don’t give them a sign, if they feel comfortable they can take it and they’ve been doing that a lot more.”
The Red Raiders wasted no time retaliating. With the game knotted at two, Cam Co quickly put runners on the corners with back-to-back singles. Another O-E error, this time an overthrow on a pick-off attempt, would let the Red Raiders retake the lead before a sacrifice grounder from Trumpie put them up by two once again.
Seeing their bats go cold, the Terrors then watched the margin on the scoreboard grow to four as the Red Raiders repeated their feat in the top of the fifth, pulling away 6-2. Again, O-E was unable to respond, but managed to shut off the valve with staunch defense in the top of the sixth, putting Cam Co out in four.
Facing a closing comeback window, the Terrors rose to the occasion. Collins and Jack Sherry opened the frame with a walk and single, followed by a single from Sheeler one batter later that drove in their third run of the afternoon. Another walk loaded the bases, before a third drove brought in Sherry, cutting the deficit to just two. Suddenly the Terrors had momentum.
After picking up their first out of the inning, Blendinger tallied his first hit of the day, crushing a deep double into center field to bring in two runners and tie the game at six. With a new man on the mound, Shane Magee then laid down a perfectly placed bunt, scoring the fifth run of the inning before Colby Wilcox put O-E up by three with a two-run RBI-single.
“Baseball is momentum. You see success and it builds success. We got a couple walks and laid that bunt down, it gave us that momentum and then Wyatt and Colby barreled up and drove guys in,” said Baker. “Good things happen when you put the ball in play.”
Holding a slim but promising lead as they returned to the dugout, all O-E had to do was stump the Red Raiders one more time. But the start of that job looked shaky.
Bo Pearsall stepped into the batters’ box at the start of the seventh, immediately finding an alley through the infield to garner real estate on first. A walk put another Red Raider on base before a balk moved the pair to second and third.
Taking over the bump in the sixth, Collins then registered his second strikeout of the day for out No. 1, however, a sac-fly right after from Zeb Pearson brought Cam Co to within two runs. Needing just one out to hold the Red Raiders at bay, Collins delivered the pitch and the defense behind him delivered the win.
Six Terrors ended with hits during their third win of the season. Blendinger ended 1-for-4 with a game-high three RBIs and one run scored while Wilcox finished 1-for-3 with two RBIs. Sheeler (1-for-2) and Splain (1-for-1) both scored twice during the win while Ryan Schenfield tallied seven strikeouts during his 4.2 innings on the mound.
After celebrating on their bench, the Terrors then returned to the field for a different kind of rejoicing, taking time to honor their three seniors: Magee, Wilcox and Collin Shreve.
“Collin came out this year as a senior and it’s been great to have him. He’s been a team guy the whole time. He’s gotten some spot (at-bats) and it’s been great to see him come out for his first year and just be a part of the team and the experience,” said Baker. “Shane and Colby are four-year guys for me. I’ve been here six years so I’ve had them the whole time and they bought into what I’ve been doing since the beginning. Anything I’ve asked from them they’ve done, and they’ve been team-first guys.”
AT ELDRED
Cameron County 020 220 1 R:7 H:7 E:2
Otto-Eldred 002 007 X R:9 H:6 E:4
Cameron County: Tucker (5 SO, 9 BB), G. Trumpie (5) (2 SO, 3 BB), Pearsall (6) (1 SO, 0 BB) and C. Trumpie
Otto-Eldred: Schenfield (7 SO, 3 BB), Collins (5) (2 SO, 1 BB) and Splain
