It didn’t matter to Community R-6 that it was cold Monday or that it went to a Final Four last year.

Community R-6 vs Wellsville-Middletown Photo Gallery

What mattered is that this season started off strong, and the Trojans did with a 15-0 three-inning win at home over district foe Wellsville-Middletown. They were able to warm up sooner inside after sophomore Kyler Swaim, in his first career varsity game, hit a bases-clearing double to trigger the run-rule victory.

“My team was cheering me on, and after the hit, they said they thought it was going to go out,” Swaim said. “It was just an amazing feeling to hit a walkoff to win it.”

Swaim’s walk-off followed a shutout third inning with three strikeouts, which was preceded by two shutout innings with four strikeouts by Mason Carroll. Wellsville didn’t manage a single hit and had one baserunner via a walk while Community finished with 10 hits and five doubles.

Prior to Monday, Swaim didn’t think he would pitch in the game. Community shot ahead 10-0 after two innings to give Carroll an opportunity to limit his pitches before a game the next day at Clopton in Clarksville. 

“Fastball was working,” Swaim said. “I couldn’t get my offspeed in the zone, and I just threw as hard as I could.”

Head coach Joel Krato said Swaim earned the opportunity to pitch after months of work. He said Swaim is a kid who can be convincing since he initially didn’t plan to have Swaim pitch any varsity innings this season but changed his mind after seeing some quality bullpen sessions from him. Krato said it is also nice he is a left-hander after having a right-handed dominant staff a year ago.

“That kid puts in a ton of work in the weight room and comes in early every morning,” Krato said. “He stays after school every day to get swings in. That’s just a kid whose hard work is paying off. He doesn’t throw particularly hard, but he’s left-handed and throws strikes. He’s going to throw hard next year for us.”

Krato said he thought Wellsville was a team Community should beat, and his team impressed him with how strong they looked. That began with the Trojans’ horse Carroll, who is coming off an all-state season. Carroll only allowed two balls in play, and both were fielded by him for outs.

“Mason came just pumping,” Krato said. “He kept it under (pitches) so he’s still available to go to tomorrow and we can still use him Thursday. Anytime your pitchers can stay low on their pitch count, it makes life a whole lot easier.”

Krato said Monday was an early indicator of the type of offense Community has this season. He thought they would be better than last year and looked a lot better than they looked during the fall season, saying the Trojans might have had more doubles Monday than in their 11 fall games.

Every Trojan reached base at least once and all of them except two reached base via a hit. Swaim led with three RBI on his game-ending hit, and Drake Welch, Cooper Rohan and Nik Krider — in the freshman’s first career varsity game — each followed with two RBI. Brant Cope went 2-for-3 with a RBI double, and Eli Johnson was 2-for-3 with three runs scored from the leadoff spot.

“This lineup — 1 through 9 — barrels. Hard-hit balls,” Krato said. “We swung the bat up and down the lineup well. Last year, we had four kids who swung it well, and we relied on the two arms. This year, we have a lineup of kids, and it’s going to be exciting to watch.”