It took two hours and 20 minutes to play just four and a half innings on Wednesday, May 13.  When the dust finally settled, it was the Carrollton Trojans who earned a non-conference win over visiting Fighting Irish of St. Joseph Lafayette in action that was heard on KMMO-AM.

There were runs and base runners aplenty with the Trojans posting a 23-13 victory for themselves.  Playing their last game of the regular season, both sides went through numerous pitchers with errors, walks and hit batsmen contributing as much to the scoring as anything else.  Carrollton crossed home plate during each of their four turns at bat while St. Joe Lafayette could muster runs in only the third and fifth frames.

The Trojans jumped out on top, 2-0 after one inning before sending 11 batters to the dish in the second. That’s when they tallied eight runs on just one hit while benefiting from four walks and four Fighting Irish miscues. This outburst gave Carrollton a seemingly-safe 10-0 advantage at the time.

Then, when it looked like the contest might be a one-sided rout, St. Joe Lafayette got off the deck with 16 men coming up in the top of the third as they scored 12 times on six hits with the Trojans making five errors to go with one walk and three hit batters. Suddenly down 12-10 after two and a half innings, the Trojans bounced back to take the lead for good by scoring six times during their next turn at the plate, That put the home team on top, 16-12 as Sawyer Stark blasted a grand slam home run, breaking a 12-12 tie. Carrollton tallied seven more runs in the bottom of the fourth, making it 23-12 with St. Joe Lafayette countering by scoring but once in the top of the fifth as things ended prematurely due to the 10-run rule, 23-13.

The Fighting Irish employed seven different pitchers, surrendering those 23 runs on 11 hits in addition to walking 12 batters. Now losers in nine of their last 11 outings, St. Joseph Lafayette fell to 10-15 on the season as they’ve given up 60 runs over their last four contests. The Trojans used just four hurlers with Bentley Ewing throwing the final two frames to earn the win by giving up only one run. Max Braun tried to set things in motion for Carrollton as he fired two scoreless innings to open the game. Trojan pitching allowed 13 runs on nine hits as they hit five batters with both schools committing a half-dozen errors on the day.

Carrollton’s win was the seventh in their last eight games as they now stand at 19-4 overall. Sawyer Stark led the Trojan attack with two singles and a grand slam homer while scoring three runs and driving in five. Max Braun added three singles to the cause as he dented home plate three times and contributed two RBI. Carrollton lead off man Logan Strain reached base five times in all as he had two hits and drove home three runs while scoring on four occasions himself. Ayden Hardy paced the Fighting Irish with three doubles, scoring twice and driving in five runs. Cleanup batter Logan Beedle chipped in with two singles and two RBI as well.

St. Joseph Lafayette now plays in a Class 4 district tournament at Missouri Western on Saturday with the Fighting Irish taking on Maryville. Carrollton is the top seed in the district tournament they are hosting starting Friday. The Trojans will meet either Lexington or Brookfield in the semifinals Monday afternoon at 4 pm.