Community R-6 was “gutsy” on Thursday.

Community R-6 vs Marion County Photo Gallery

Head coach Joel Krato said as much about his team following their 9-7 victory at home over Marion County. The Trojans were outhit 11-7 and owned two five-run leads Marion County cut into, but they were still able to bounce back from a 5-4 loss at Clopton on Tuesday.

Community (2-1) didn’t score the first run, it had a 6-1 lead after the fourth inning that turned into 6-4, it widened its advantage to 9-4 after a three-run sixth inning only for Marion County (2-1) to make it 9-7 and threaten for more with the bases loaded in the seventh inning, and then Mason Rohan shut the door despite recording four strikeouts in the inning — three dropped third strikes.

“Mason Rohan is a heck of a competitor and definitely the kid we want in that inning,” Krato said. “Mason Carroll is always big-time on the mound, but they were putting a lot of balls in play off Mason, as you typically don’t see. It was gutsy. I think we needed a game like that early to test us and see where we’re at.”

Krato said Community scored when it needed to and made plays when it needed to even though there is a list of times it didn’t execute well. The Trojans put in some more practice time after the victory to iron out the issues during the game.

Carroll pitched six innings prior to Rohan’s escape act in the seventh, allowing four earned runs on nine hits along with 12 strikeouts. Krato said he thought Carroll had  “one of the hardest throwing games” he’s seen, but Marion County’s athletes made it clear early how aggressive they would be against Carroll.

“They’ve got some good athletes,” Krato said. “They had a good basketball team this year (16-9 and second-place district trophy), and usually that translates. Good athletes, especially at small schools, leads to other sports having success. If you’re good at basketball, you’re probably going to be pretty competitive in baseball as well.”

Seven Mustangs finished with one RBI to not give Carroll much breathing room as he navigated through the order. 

“Krato wanted the fastball in the first inning,” Carroll said. “After that, I threw offspeed because they were sitting dead fastball. I had to throw offspeed so they would get off timing.”

The runs driven in for Carroll at the plate have happened through the first two games, but the hits were nonexistent for the all-state player. In the third and sixth innings, that changed.

Cooper Rohan and Drake Welch laid down bunts that turned into runs for the Trojans in the third inning, but Carroll’s booming two-RBI double was sandwiched in between for a 4-1 lead. Carroll’s bat made an even louder noise in the three-run seventh inning with his two-RBI home run, padding the Community lead to 9-4 and giving him four RBI on two huge hits.

During the game, Krato said he thought Carroll would hit a ball over the fence in the game and said Carroll thought during school that day he would hit the ball hard that night. 

“I haven’t been hitting at all,” Carroll said with a grin. “I just had to take out on the ball.”

“Mason Carroll is a responder, meaning he plays when he needs to respond,” Krato said. “We needed a win today, and he did everything in his way. He threw well, swung it well and he had not swung the bat well to start off the year. He was telling me today during school, ‘I’m going to smash one today.’ I said, ‘I believe you.’”

Krato said Johnson had a good shot at hitting on out as well, and Johnson gave the Trojans a good day at the plate, including a key RBI single in the sixth inning. For Community to succeed Krato said the leadoff hitter Johnson and the No. 3 hitter Carroll need to produce, which is exactly what happened on Thursday against a team that refused to go away.

Johnson said the team wasn’t satisfied with its performance on Tuesday at Clopton. The Trojans only lost by one run but only had three hits so it was clear what they needed to focus on for a better Thursday.

“I felt relieved,” Johnson said about his RBI single in the sixth inning. “Our coach has been on our butts about striking out and not putting the ball in play or getting bunts down. It’s just about getting your mentality right and just worrying about putting the ball in play and not trying to put one over the fence. If you just focus on putting the ball in play, (the home runs) will come to you like Mason tonight. It will come to me some time this year. I know it.”

Krato said there were quite a few “little things” the Trojans did wrong but also some that they did right and is encouraging as they try to build off this victory. In the fourth inning, Community hit the ball to a fielder with the bases loaded but still scratched across two runs before Cooper Rohan was tagged for the third out. Rohan intentionally stayed in a rundown between first and second base after the ball was hit in his close vicinity near first, allowing two runs to score before the out was recorded.

“It was very fortunate,” Krato said. “The difference in the game right there was a pickle. We could have got more bunts down, but when we did, we got runs off of it. We win that game because of little things.”

Look for more photos at the gallery link near the beginning of the story.