There’s plenty of baseball yet to be played this spring for Park Hill (5-2) who is already only three victories shy of matching last season’s win total.
Park Hill outfielder Aidan Walter catches a pop fly against Rockhurst in the Kansas City Metro Lead-Off Tournament at Creekside Baseball Complex on March 22.
Coming off an 8-20 record a season ago, Park Hill already has five wins through seven games. It took 14 total games in 2022 to earn five wins, making the Trojans’ success early on even more impressive.
Park Hill lost two of its first three games but has responded with four wins in a row. After splitting a pair of games on the opening day of the Kansas City Metro Lead-Off Tournament, the Trojans did the same thing on March 22.
Park Hill lost 10-6 to Blue Springs (4-3), but immediately bounced back in the double header, taking down Rockhurst (2-2) 11-6 at Creekside Baseball Complex. The Trojans used that triumph as momentum to take down three straight opponents, including Fort Osage (0-3) in their home opener on March 24.
In the contest, the opening four and a half innings were scoreless until the Trojans scored two runs. The Indians walked Zane Baker, had an error to allow Tyson Kiser to reach first base and allowed a single by Jaxon Grayson to load the bases.
Braydan Resch was walked after Baker scored on a passed ball and Garrison Mertz had a sacrifice fly to send Kiser across home plate. Fort Osage closed out the inning with two outs and answered with an RBI double to cut the lead to 2-1 in the top of the sixth inning.
Park Hill had four hits in the bottom of the inning – including a pair of RBI singles by Kiser and Resch – to extend the lead to 4-1. Jase Johnson struck out all three batters in the top of the seventh inning, giving him nine total, and the Trojans won their home opener for the seventh straight season.
Park Hill had a chance to play a pair of South Dakota opponents – Sioux Falls O’Gorman (0-2) and Sioux Falls Roosevelt (2-2) – beating both at Lawrence High School on March 24. The Trojans opened the weekend with a whopping 15-0 victory over Sioux Falls O’Gorman.
The Knights only had two hits opposed to the Trojan’s 12 hits, six of which happened in the third inning when Park Hill had an 8-run outing. Resch and Kiser both ended with three hits, while Dayton Howard had two hits and four RBIs.
Sioux Falls Roosevelt was the next opponent for Park Hill and the Trojans came out on top, 9-3. The Trojans went up 6-0 in the first four innings before the Raiders scored three runs in the top of the fifth inning.
Park Hill put the game away in the bottom of the fifth inning, behind singles by Jaxon Miller, Mertz and Resch to make the score 9-3. The Trojan defense kept the Raiders from scoring in the final two innings to win their fourth consecutive contest.
Mertz ended with two hits and one RBI, while five of his teammates had one hit apiece. Grayson struck out eight batters in four innings and Resch had two strikeouts in two innings.
Park Hill will have a 3-game road trip before returning home for a matchup with Lee’s Summit North (1-3) on April 5. Before then, the Trojans will take on Raymore-Peculiar (0-2), Blue Springs (4-3) and Staley (4-1).