The Community R-6 offense wasn’t at its best this week but won three out of four games.

Community R-6 vs Madison Photo Gallery

The Trojans won two Central Activities Conference games in two days after winning 4-1 at Class 1 No. 10 Cairo on Friday and following that with a 14-3 victory over Madison at Mexico High School. 

Going into the Madison game, head coach Joel Krato said Community (8-7, 3-3 CAC) had a batting average under .200 in four games against New Franklin, Louisiana, Glasgow and Cairo. Community still won three of those four games with its lone loss happening at conference foe Glasgow, who is undefeated in conference.

“We just needed to have a spark lit into us after having a late night and some of them (three) had an early morning with trap shooting,” Krato said. “You’re talking about being a little fatigued so you just need a little kick-start, a little ignition and turn of the key.”

The first two innings against Madison (2-12, 0-5 CAC) were scoreless and featured five strikeouts by Community batters. Krato motivated them after that slow start until the Trojans scored 12 of their runs in the final three innings.

“After I jumped them, we put a lot of balls in play and they just made plays,” Krato said. “We hit a lot of good balls. Their pitchers threw enough strikes with decent velocity.”

Nik Crider had three RBIs on two doubles along with pitching five innings with six strikeouts, five hits, four walks and two earned runs. Drake Welch had two RBIs and a double, Kaiden Erdel had two RBIs, and Crider, Cooper Rohan and Ean Johnson each scored three runs. 

Crider said it was nice to experience “a great feeling” with the two conference victories in two days after playing “a lot of rough games in the conference.” 

The great feelings have been there for Crider at the plate all season long. Crider is the only Trojan through 15 games with an OPS above 1.000 and is hitting about .440 after hitting .245 during the fall season. 

“I’m seeing the ball pretty well,” Crider said. “I’m just attacking the best I can. Everything we’ve done during the offseason has helped me be more comfortable at the plate. I’m more confident in myself and am not scared with nerves.”

Rohan, who owns a 2.80 ERA through 15 games, continued a solid season on the mound against Cairo (9-5, 4-3 CAC) as he struck out 11 and allowed one unearned run on three hits and two walks in seven innings. He struggled in an 8-2 loss three days prior at Glasgow but set the tone against Cairo.

“Cooper Rohan did a phenomenal job on the bump,” Krato said. “He threw a ton of strikes. He threw the offspeed for strikes. Lane (Carter) did a good job of calling pitches last night and did a great job of mixing it up and keeping them off-balance.”

Krato said Community “executed key defensive scenarios” and did well reaching base and scrapping for runs like has been the case all season. The Trojans scored all four runs in the first two innings, including three runs in the first inning with four hit-by-pitches and two walks. Community finished with five hit batsmen and eight walks, and Carter and Houston Hogan each had one RBI.

Community batters walked nine times against Madison and were hit three times to further demonstrate the offense’s ability to push runs across, Krato said. 

“It’s not like we had a ton of hits today either,” Krato said. “We had seven or eight hits. 14 runs. How many pitches did we wear? How many walks did we have?”

Trojans walks off North Shelby 8-7

Community had a do-or-die inning on Monday at home.

The Trojans scored two runs in the seventh inning and beat North Shelby (9-6) 8-7. Cooper Rohan hit a two-RBI game-winning double to finish 3-for-5 with six RBIs and two doubles. 

Drake Welch went 2-for-3 with one RBI and struck out four and allowed one hit and one walk in two innings pitched. Kyler Swaim finished 2-for-4 with one double and allowed three earned runs on six hits and four walks in five innings pitched. Nik Crider went 2-for-3.

The Trojans moved to 10-7 and 4-3 in conference with a 16-15 on Tuesday at Pilot Grove (1-12, 1-6 CAC), which also extended their winning streak to four games. Community had an 8-2 lead after three innings, fell behind 13-8 after five innings and scored six runs in the sixth and two runs in the seventh inning. Kaiden Erdel had a game-winning two-RBI single and finished 2-for-5 with five RBIs, Kyler Swaim had four RBIs and a double, Drake Welch went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a double, and Nik Crider finished 3-for-5 with three runs and one RBI.

Community plays at Mark Twain (1-13) at 5 p.m. Thursday.