The game itself wasn’t close. The Concord baseball team cruised in its season opener. The Crimson Tide played only five innings, won by double digits and was never threatened as it kicked off yet another spring.
What was important was what the game showed. Concord’s 13-2 victory over Trinity was easy – because the Crimson Tide allowed it to stay that way.
Concord pitched well, hit well and fielded well, racking up 15 hits and putting up the kind of result that made it hard for its skipper to find any kind of fault or a qualm.
“We really played well in all aspects of the game,” Coach Scott Owen said. “We pitched well, we swung the bats well. . . . It’s one game, but if we can do what we did today, good things can happen for us.”
Those sorts of comments were few and far between last year, an unusually trying season for a program that had been a lock for high seeds and June games. Hit hard by graduation and forced to bank on inexperience in the field and on the mound, Concord made mistakes that lingered throughout the season.
The end result was an uncharacteristic 5-13 season that kept the Tide out of the postseason tournament it won only three years prior – prompting Owen to go into this year with an overriding message for his team.
Being beaten is one thing. Beating yourselves, however, is another.
“We know what to expect, and we’re working on being focused,” Owen said. “They’re working hard on doing those things. If you can not give up big innings and limit the amount of opportunities you give the other team, we can be successful.”
The Concord hitters took the pressure off themselves early. Sean Fallon drilled a two-run triple and Stephen Moran knocked him in with a groundout to turn a 1-0 lead into a 4-0 advantage in the second inning.
The Crimson Tide buried the Pioneers in the next two innings. Kurtis Stadnicki’s RBI double, Fallon’s two-run single and Moran’s RBI single lifted Concord to four more runs in the third, and RBI doubles by Christian McClellan, Ethan Dupre, Connor Haywood and Fallon – Dupre’s knocking in two – made for a five-run fourth.
“The new guys were able to step up and make plays, and the returning guys did their jobs and led us,” Owen said.
Fallon, the No. 9 hitter, went 3-for-3 with three runs and five RBI, while Dupre went 2-for-3 with two double and two RBI and Moran and Matt LaTourette had two hits apiece.
“I don’t think we have the big hitters, per se,” Owen said. “I think we’re going to need to hit 1 through 9 to be successful. That’s what we’ve been talking about and preaching.”
On the mound, Griffin Gilbert stifled the Trinity bats. The sophomore allowed one earned run in the five innings, walking two, allowing two hits and striking out eight.
“He throws the ball hard, he’s got good command,” Owen said. “For a sophomore, he’s got good poise. We had a few miscues in the fourth (when Concord allowed both runs), but he beared down and got us out of it. He looked like a veteran out there.”
Trinity’s two-run fourth was Owen’s only issue with what was otherwise a sparkling victory, but the coach also had a word of caution for his team.
“We started 1-0 last year too,” he readily pointed out.
Fair enough. But 1-0, especially after how last year went, is a good way to start.
“Nice to get the first win under our belt,” Owen said. “But we’ll have to get back out there (today) and duplicate what we did.”