NEW PARIS — The National Trail Blazers lost to Greenon, 5-1, in the second round of sectionals on Wednesday, May 11, ending their season.
Michael Bane pitched six innings, allowing 8 hits, one walk, and two earned runs, while notching five strikeouts.
Greenon scored first with a 2-0 lead after the second inning. The Blazers didn’t get a hit until the third inning, a hit which came from Hunter Lindsey. Trey Mann was walked to put runners in scoring position, but the Blazers failed to capitalize on a squeeze play and ended up leaving three on base at the end of that inning.
The top of the fourth saw Greenon go three and out, while NT couldn’t score either. In the sixth, Greenon came close to adding more runs but Bane shut them down at the most critical moments with fine pitching. The bottom of the sixth saw the Blazers crack the scoreboard off two batters hit by pitches, followed by Angel Garabito knocking in a run to close the scoring gap by two.
But the Greenon Knights responded by adding two more runs in the seventh to seal the victory.
“Great pitching effort all year long from Bane, Petitt, and Lanman,” Coach Jeff Parker said about his Blazers after the game. “The boys really put up a fight at the plate. Greenon made no errors in the game and we didn’t put enough pressure on them to win. We will have a strong core of players coming back next season if all goes well. We have lots of youth in the bottom five batters in our current lineup. But also a good core of juniors who will be seniors next season will lead the team.”
Billy Lanman will attend Wright State’s Lake college to play baseball. Michael Bane will play at Edison State.
