Concord’s hits never came when they were needed most.
The Tide stranded 13 runners and seven in scoring position against a highly touted Trinity squad on Monday night.
Despite a 2-2 record after the 6-1 loss, frustration lingered in the air.
While it’s still early in the season, the stranding of runners has put pressure on both the defense and offense so far.
During a game where the cold wind and spurts of snow combined for harsh conditions, sophomores Rhys Craigue, Will Simms and freshman Jacob Plodzik were the highlights on offense.
Craigue was 2-for-3 on two singles and a walked leading to Concord’s lone run.
“Work a little harder at putting the ball to all parts of the field in practice,” Craigue said on how the team can improve.
Plodzik got on base three times, all walks, yet never made it around the diamond. Simms earned two walks and got a hit in the third inning. Senior pitcher Alex Turant got on base twice, as well.
It’s all part of baseball, said Concord coach Scott Owen. He thinks that if the team can maintain its composure at the plate, which led to multiple walks while being aggressive at the right moments, they can put it together.
On defense, the team held the Pioneers off and kept the score 2-1 through the fifth. The two early runs both came from small mistakes across the infield, which amounted to runners stealing and eventually scoring on a wild pitch and on a sacrifice fly.
That was until a home run into deep right field to start the sixth inning by senior Tristan Lucier sparked a late flurry of runs that put the game away.
It wasn’t a perfect game on defense, but Concord applied the necessary pressure until eventually Trinity broke through as its confidence grew.
Part of it was the quality of Trinity’s pitching in clutch moments. Ollie Service, Mason Devall and Tristan Lucier all managed to escape unscathed. The team has given up eight runs in four games and stayed undefeated after beating Concord.
Concord will play next against a more forgiving defense at Windham on Wednesday at 4 p.m. before returning home for a Friday showdown against Nashua South.
“If we learn from it, the fourth game of the season, I’ll take that, I’ll take that all year,” Owen said. “How we respond to that situation is a bigger question for me.”