Maturity helps Trojans take first step towards state

The Fairfield varsity baseball team improved to 25-4 and advanced to the Class 3A district 10 final tonight against Mt. Pleasant by defeating another Southeast Conference foe, Fort Madison, 7-4 Friday night at the middle school fields.

'I knew going in that this was going to be a tough one when we found out that they were the No. 7 seed and we were the No. 2,” admitted skipper Josh Allison after his come-from-behind kids did just that again. 'I knew it was going to be a battle. Their coach is moving that program in the right direction and it's good for them and good for the conference. They will be good competition over the next couple of years.”

Not all of the Trojans were dealing with the excessive heat the best and Trojan multi-sport work-horse Tristin Waugh was absent due to his participation in the Iowa Shriner's Bowl that practiced last week before Saturday's game.

'When we found out that Tristin [Waugh] wasn't going to be here tonight, we went through different scenarios with our coaches and the boys were able to execute the gameplan,” said Allison.

One of the scenarios was how to rotate the infield if senior Jackson Weaton continued to struggle to find the strike zone, something that he has been working hard to improve.

'I was a little psyched out in my head and wasn't throwing the ball in the zone,” said Weaton. 'Coach did me a favor and got me out of the game. I'm just trying to throw strikes, but over the last couple of games, it's been pretty hard.”

Weaton has not had any problems at the plate or fielding his other positions, third and first base, so he rotated with classmate Kosta Papazoglou who began the game at third in case this played out.

'You can see more of what the zone is going to be like, especially if you're pitching and catching, because you can tell where the umpire is being more consistent,” said K-Pap of the advantages of playing both ends of the Trojan battery.

Action

After Fort Madison found the right-centerfield gap for a RBI double to give the Bloodhounds a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, FHS responded with a run of their own when Austin Simpson stole third on a wild pitch and then scored on the subsequent errant throw into left field.

Fort Madison added two more tallies in the road-half of the second which gave Allison the chance to swap Weaton for Papazoglou in a straight-up pitcher to third flip after 42 pitches from Jack.

The Trojans cut the deficit in half with a run in the bottom of the frame after junior Carter Ferrel scored on another Bloodhound wild pitch that left the score 3-2 headed to the third.

Fort Madison responded themselves in the next at-bat with a run to cushion their lead back to two runs and put the Trojans on serious notice down 4-2.

'When we came together at the end of the third inning I told them it was going to be a grind,” said Allison, 'but we're going to get this done.”

Get-er-done they did as FHS 'exploded,” relative to most offenses although probably not theirs, and regained the lead with four runs in the fourth that gave the home fans a 4-2 advantage to cheer for and secured the first round victory.

'Right now, they believe in team, where early in the season they were all trying to do too much for themselves,” explained Allison. 'Now, they know they can take a walk and trust the next guy to get the job done and that's huge. We are all about team first and having fun.”

'We're just a grinding team and we'll do anything to get the 'W” and work for each other,” suggested Cole Engle. 'We've come along so much this season. Before, if we were down any, we wouldn't be able to come back the way we do now.”

Weaton was able to play effectively at third base and even moved to first when the senior Simpson took a break from the heat. 'I think beating Wilton 17-3 was a real eye-opener on how good we can be,” said Jack. 'I know all of the guys believe in each other and I think we have a community that believes in us too.”

His fellow pitcher Papazoglou echoed a similar settement about the new-attitude Trojans.

'A lot of us are maturing and I've matured a lot this year. Last year, I was much more difficult. Our main goal right now is just to win and advance and hopefully make it to the state tournament.”

Stats

FHS scored seven runs on 10 hits with two runs scored by Simpson while Ferrel, Caden Jones, Weaton, Matt Swanson and Connor Lyon all crossed home once. The top homerun hitting team in Class 3A had no long-balls on Friday, but did manage four extra-base-hits from Drish, Engle, Ferrel and Papazoglou.

K-Pap also earned the win after throwing 83 pitches over the final six-plus innings, allowing one run on two hits with two walks and 11 strikeouts.

Next

Fairfield High will host SEC rival Mt. Pleasant tonight at the middle school fields with first-pitch scheduled for 7 p.m.