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Trojan baseball jumps into 1st
Fairfield wins huge rivalry game in Mt. Pleasant, ties Panthers for lead
MT. PLEASANT — The stage was set for a major showdown in Mt. Pleasant on Thursday night, as the first place Panthers had a shot to put the second-place Fairfield Trojans down two games in the standings. Instead, the Trojans just made the race that much more interesting.
Led by a fantastic pitching performance by Nate Konczal, the Trojans beat the Panthers in style, knocking Mt. Pleasant off 13-1 to take the season series, and move into a first-place tie.
“The boys were focused,” said Fairfield head coach Josh Allison. “They had positive energy from the get-go, and we just believed in each other that everybody was going to get the job done.”
Konczal got into some trouble early, but the Trojan lefty wouldn’t let the Panthers get a run across the plate until the bottom of the sixth inning. He would give up just one earned run all night long, and he struck out five Panthers to earn the win.
“I thank my fielders for making plays behind me,” Konczal said. “And Coach Allison for calling a great game.”
The Trojans gave Konczal plenty of breathing room early. Capitalizing on a couple of Mt. Pleasant defensive miscues, Fairfield put up six runs in the top of the second inning, and Mt. Pleasant would leave the bases loaded in the bottom half, making it 6-0 after two.
As the Trojan lefty settled in, Mt. Pleasant’s offense couldn’t play catch up. Fairfield scored three in the fifth and four in the sixth to build a 13-run lead, and the Panthers scored just one run in their half the sixth to end the game one inning short, due to the 10-run mercy rule.
“Lately, we've been having a lot of errors, and better offense has been carrying us through it,” said Mt. Pleasant head coach Brent Broeker. “Today, the Konczal kid just kept us off balance.”
Cason Miller led the charge for Fairfield offensively. He went 3-for-5 with a triple and five RBIs to pace the Trojans. Dain Burkhart went 3-for-3 with two RBIs, and Luke Konczal was 2-for-5 with two doubles and an RBI.
Mt. Pleasant’s lone run came from Cooper Coleman, who went 1-for-2 on the day. Payson Coleman went 1-for-2 with an RBI.
Fairfield went on to beat Albia in non-conference play one night later. In that one, Luke Konczal was 2-for-4 with a home run, a double and four RBIs. Caden Allison had two hits and three RBIs. Burkhart knocked in three himself, and Miller had a double and four runs scored.
Fairfield (16-8, 8-3) hits the road on Monday night for a doubleheader in Keokuk (6-9, 3-7), while Mt. Pleasant (15-5, 8-3) hosts Fort Madison (8-13, 4-5).
