In Thursday night baseball action, the Sturgis (3-1) split games with Kalamazoo Central in a SMAC non-divisional doubleheader. The Trojans won the first game 14-12 and fell in the second game 11-4.
Sturgis won Game 1 behind the pitching effort of Tristen Stewart, who threw five innings, striking out five and allowing two runs and one hit. Stewart also had two hits and one RBI.
Chance Stewart, who earned the save, and Oakley Stevens both got their first home run of the season.
“I had a good approach, knew what I wanted and got it,” Stevens said. Chance Stewart went 3-for-4 with a double and home run and Stevens went 2-for-4. Kris Ransberger and Ben Sisson collected two hits each. Jack Caywood had a hit and a sacrifice fly, Tyler Cain also had one hit and a RBI. Caywood, Sisson, and Jacob Haas each swiped a base.
“The dugout was very supportive today,” Haas said. “[We] came out with a good approach to help the squad.”
In game Game 2, the Maroon Giants split the game open in the third inning, plating five runs.
“Having limited pitchers is hard; we just couldn’t finish the way we wanted to,” assistant coach Derrick Gentile said.
The Trojans had to go through three pitchers through five innings. Leading the offense were Cain and Chance Stewart, each having two hits, and a RBI. Kalvyn Bowdish batted a double and stole a base, Caywood also registered a double. Picking up singles were Stevens and Bryce Jasper.
“It was a learning point that we’re not going to have a deep pitching staff,” assistant Sam Watson said. “We need to get our pitchers in better shape and we’ll continue to improve from it.”
The Trojans get back to action Saturday at the Sturgis Individual starting at 10 a.m.