KANSAS CITY – Being outscored 40 to 23 through the first seven baseball games of the year isn’t ideal, and that’s how the spring started off for Park Hill (3-6).
Park Hill senior Kaeden Pak has been one of the Trojans’ best offensive players so far this season.
The Trojans have had some offensive woes at times, scoring two or less runs in each of their first six losses. They started the season in the Kansas City Leadoff Tournament, losing the first two games against Liberty North (10-3) and Smithville (3-6) on March 16.
The first win of the year came against St. Pius X (4-4) in the first of two contests on March 17. Park Hill won 7-3 behind three hits and four RBIs by Kaeden Pak.
The Trojans had nine hits on the day and never trailed. Being tied entering the top of the seventh inning, Pak had the go-ahead grand slam and then had two of the three putouts in the bottom of the seventh inning to hold off the Warriors.
Park Hill’s next two opponents were from other states, starting with a 7-2 loss to Shawnee Mission East (4-1). The Trojans bounced back with a 10-3 victory over Sioux Falls O’Gorman (3-3) from South Dakota on March 21.
Park Hill trailed 3-1 after two innings, then tallied nine runs over the course of the ensuing four innings, not going scoreless in any. Caelin Bradford went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBIs to make up for one-third of his team’s hits.
Bryson Augustyn struck out four batters in just as many innings on the mound and Logan Hampton had five strikeouts in two innings. Logan Conley pitched in the fifth inning, ending with one strikeout.
Park Hill was on the verge of taking down Fort Osage (2-6) before a rough eighth inning on March 22. The Trojans led 2-1 entering the sixth inning and had a disastrous outing: walking five batters, having three errors and allowing eight runs.
Park Hill was in a defensive battle through four innings against Raymore-Peculiar (9-3) on March 27. The Panthers took advantage of some Trojan mistakes in the top of the fifth inning – two walks, a dropped third strike and two additional errors – to put three runs on the board and added four runs on three singles in the top of the seventh inning as the home team was unable to produce any runs.
Park Hill traveled to St. Joseph for a double-header against Central (4-5) and nearly matched the run total it had in the opening seven games on March 30. The Trojans scored eight runs in each game, losing the first contest by one run and winning the second one by seven runs.
In the 9-8 loss, Park Hill erased a 6-0 deficit through two innings and tied the game in the fifth inning. Central added three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to retake the lead.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the seventh inning, Augustyn had a 2-RBI double to left field. Pak was hit by a pitch in the next at-bat to reload the bases, but Hampton flied out to left field and the game ended.
The Trojans kept the strong offense going into the second game, taking control with an early 4-0 lead and taking advantage of five Indian errors. Bradford went 3-of-5 with an RBI and struck out three batters in six innings.