COLONY — It remains to be seen if Crest High’s Lancers can replicate their magical 2021 baseball season, capped by the program’s first ever appearance in the state baseball tournament.
So far, so good.
Crest’s deep and talented pitching staff has kept the Lancer machine humming right along, including a pair of lopsided victories Monday over visiting Northeast-Arma, 15-0 and 12-2.
And here’s the scary part for future Lancer foes.
“We’re still a work in progress,” Crest head coach Roland Weir admits. “Losing those three seniors from last year has hurt, but we’re gaining. Our hitting’s been good. Our pitching has been excellent.”
Indeed, junior Trevor Church got things started Monday, by allowing only an infield single in the third inning while striking out eight of the 10 batters he faced, and requiring only 44 pitches to do so.
The key, Church said, was his ability to throw strikes.
“I was able to hit my spots in the corners,” he said. “I had pretty good command.”
Northeast’s pitchers had no such luck.
A walk and two hit batters keyed a seven-run first inning of the opener to set the tone. The beat continued with a three-run second before the Lancers ended the game with five runs in the bottom of the third.
Church, Stetson Setter and Jack White each had a single and double to key the offense. Rogan Weir, Avery Blaufuss, Holden Barker and Bryson Goodell each added singles in the 10-hit attack.
THE DRUMBEAT continued in Monday’s nightcap as Blaufuss doubled twice and Barker had a single and double after Northeast took a quick 1-0 lead.
Barker got things started with a two-run double to push the Lancers on top, 3-1.
The Vikings scored again in the top of the second, but Blaufuss hit a run-scoring double to make it 4-2 in the third. Rogan Weir then walked and scored on Ryan Golden’s RBI single to lead off the fourth.
The Lancers then put the game away with a two-run fourth and five-run fifth, highlighted by Setter’s two-run blast over the center field wall, his third home run of the season.
“I felt like I needed to switch up my at-bats,” Setter said. “I knew with the wind, it would be tough. I wasn’t really swinging for the fences as much, but I finally got a hold of one.”
Setter also keyed Crest’s pitching performances, with two hitless innings of relief, and striking out six of the seven Viking batters he faced.
Starter Kaden Nilges struck out two batters and gave up four hits over two innings of work.
