MORGANTOWN — The rain subsided at just the right time for a perfect night for baseball on Monday night. The Class A Region II, Section 1 baseball tournament got underway with the No. 4 Trinity Christian Warriors hosting the No. 5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Dale Miller Field.
The Warriors (9-10) defeated the visitors 8-2 with their final four runs coming in the top of the sixth inning and will travel to face No. 1 South Harrison this evening.
TCS scored its eight runs on nine hits, led by senior Trenton Timperio who went 3 for 4 at the plate coming a home run shy of the cycle.
Freshman pitcher Sam Fulk tossed a complete game for the Warriors giving up two runs on four hits with eight strikeouts. He also earned two of his team’s hits and scored two runs.
“We didn’t do one thing outstanding tonight, but we did everything well,” TCS head coach Wes Hopkins said. “Hitting, pitching, defense and on the bases, we were solid all around. Sam came up huge for us and has been great all year. Proud of these guys tonight.”
Fulk didn’t allow a hit until the third inning and the Warriors got started right away on the offensive side.
Sophomore Thomas Dinkel hit a rocket to center field to lead off the bottom of the first and reached third on an error before scoring on a wild pitch moments later to open the scoring 1-0.
After a scoreless second inning, the Fighting Irish went on a two-out rally in the third with three straight singles, their first game hits. The latter by Preston Heslip scored two runs and gave ND a 2-1 advantage but the visitors wouldn’t find another run.
“It’s tough to win games when you only score two runs,” ND head coach Trent Lahasky said. “It’s been our problem most of the year giving up a big inning but we competed and have some positives to take from the game into Wednesday.”
Timperio tied the game at two in the bottom half of the third with a two-out double that scored Dinkel. Fulk worked a quick inning in the top of the fourth which made way for Noah Toler to give his team the lead 3-2 on a fielder’s choice with runners on second and third.
ND threatened with runners on and with some hard-hit balls, but the Warriors’ defense made some impressive plays in the outfield to keep the opposing hitters at bay and preserve the lead.
After adding a fourth run in the bottom of the fifth on a wild pitch that allowed Timperio to score from third, Fulk worked another strong inning in the top of the sixth and his offense rewarded him with four more runs in the bottom half for an 8-2 lead.
Fulk earned the final three outs to secure the victory for his team.
“I told them all year that we haven’t peaked yet,” Hopkins said. “Sectional playoffs is an ideal time to peak and I think we started that process tonight. It was one of the cleanest games defensively we have played all year. I don’t think Sam could’ve done much more. Our outfield tracked down some fly balls to save some baserunners. We have to be ready to hit tomorrow against South Harrison who is a very good team.”
BOX SCORE
Trinity Christian 8, Notre Dame 2
ND 002 000 0 – 2 4 1
TCS 101 114 X – 8 9 1
Notre Dame – Marra 4110 Bombardiere 2110 Heslep 3011 Goldizen 3000 J Minnocci 3010 Hill 2000 Kennedy 2000 Fitch 1000 Urso 2000 D Minnocci 1000
Trinity Christian – Dinkel 4321 Hopkins 3001 Timperio 4132 Parker 4010 Shuba 2000 Fulk 3220 Sanders 1000 Toler 2101 Shuba 3111
2B: Fulk, Timperio
3B: Timperio
WP: Fulk 7.0ip 4h 2r 4bb 8k
LP: Heslep 5.0ip 6h 6r 4bb 5k
