Trojan baseball looking for consistency

The Park Hill Trojans are experiencing the ups and downs of early spring baseball after going 2-2 over the last week to bring their overall record to 4-5 on the season. Most recently, they fell 5-1 to conference foe Lee's Summit West Monday afternoon after giving up three runs in the first inning from a combination of walks and throwing errors. While the loss put Park Hill one game behind the Titans in the conference race, the Trojans have seen some quality competition thus far in this early season and coach Greg Reynolds doesn't necessarily consider his team in a tough spot right now despite some inconsistencies and the recent absence of slugger Adam Vanderpool.

"They came together on Friday at St. Joe and we played a very good game, I was happy with how we responded," Reynolds said of the 5-1 victory. "I wasn't unhappy with the way we played tonight (against Lee's Summit West), we just didn't get any clutch hits. When you're without a kid who basically hit .400 as a junior last year, it causes a ripple effect through your whole program."

Reynolds says the baseball from other teams in the area he's seen so far this season has been fairly good.

"The high school baseball I've seen this year is good and the pitching is real well. Got a lot of guys that are throwing strikes and can work quickly," Reynolds said.

Which is what he's beginning to see glimpses of from his own pitching staff and hopes to roll that over to the entire rotation. The undisputable ace thus far has been senior Nathan Shores followed by sophomore Logan Sloniker who are sporting 1.05 and 3.70 ERA's entering this week. Jordan Burnidge rounds out the third spot in the rotation.

"He's (Shores) thrown strikes and his the top two pitches are good enough to keep us in any game. We play better defense when he's pitching because he's around the strike zone and has good rhythm," Reynolds said. "Logan makes other teams beat him with their bat, not through walks. Jordan has the stuff, when he has the control, he's as good as anybody."

Shores and Jake Jones make up the strength of the Trojans' offensive with a combined 21 hits and 15 RBI's accounted for entering this week.

"Jake was hitting the ball in some pretty clutch situations from the six-hole, so we moved him into the four hole to replace Vanderpool," Reynolds said.

Prior to the loss to Lee's Summit West Monday and victory against St. Joe Central last Friday, the Trojans beat Liberty North (5-3) and lost to Oak Park (2-5). They'll play Ruskin and Truman before preparing for four games in the Northland Tournament next week.