NTL BASEBALL: EARLY ERRORS PROVE COSTLY; ATHENS FALLS TO TROY, 5-1 (24 PHOTOS) (2024-04-23)

Valley Sports Report
ATHENS — Athens put itself in a hole with early errors, and Troy’s pitching shut down the Wildcats on the way to a 5-1 win here Tuesday afternoon in NTL Large School Division baseball action.

“Today was definitely not our best game defensively,” said Athens coach Charlie Havens, who watched his team commit six errors. “We’ve played good defense all year … you absolutely cannot give good teams like Troy extra outs.

“(Camryn) Hartwick pitched an excellent game holding us to three hits,” he noted. “They are such a good team — well-coached and disciplined.

“We are at the half-way point here, and we know we have talent, it’s just a matter of hitting the right buttons and turning this around,” added Havens, whose team falls to 4-6 with the loss.

Troy opened the scoring in the second inning, taking advantage of a pair of errors to take a 2-0 lead.

The Trojans scored another unearned run in the third inning to extend the lead to 3-0.

Athens answered in the home half of the third inning on a lead-off single by sophomore Eli Hobday, who ended up scoring after a pair of Troy errors to close the gap to 3-1.

The Trojans added two runs on four singles in the top of the fifth inning to push its advantage to 5-1.

Athens loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth inning with walks to senior Nicholas Jacob and freshman Brenden Cooke, and junior Troy Rosenbloom reaching on a dropped third strike, but Troy reliever Reed Palmer recorded the third out to escape the jam unscathed.

Palmer pitched around a two-out walk to freshman Connor Davidson to close out the win.

Hobday singled twice and scored one run, and Cooke added a single to account for Athens’ three hits.

Jacob was tagged with the loss, allowing five runs — two earned — on nine hits, while striking out two and walking none in 4 1/3 innings.

Junior Carson Rowe closed out the game with 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, allowing two hits, and striking out one.

Hartwick earned the win, allowing an unearned run on three hits, while striking out nine and waking three in 5 2/3 innings.

Palmer earned the save, striking out one and walking one in 1 1/3 innings of relief.

Palmer was 3-for-4 with two runs scored to pace Troy at the plate.

Athens returns to action Friday in a doubleheader at Wellsboro.

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IN PHOTO 1: Athens junior Eli Hobday. … PHOTOS BY TIM BIRNEY.