Community R-6 looked good in the third inning on Friday in a vital conference game.

The Trojans were held hitless the rest of the way by Central Activities Conference foe Cairo, eventually losing 5-4 on a walk-off in the ninth inning for their first conference and district loss. Community (11-3, 5-1 CAC, 4-1 vs district foes) finished with four hits against starting pitcher Logan Head and reliever Hayden Holman, who have each signed to play college baseball.

“I don’t think, consistently, that they’re a better offensive team than us,” head coach Joel Krato said. “Going there, it’s tough to see. All of my kids said it was tough to read the spin. I don’t think either one of those two kids are any better than some other kids we’ve seen and swung well against. You’ve just to wait 24 hours sometimes.”

Mason Carroll had the final Trojan hit in the form of a two-RBI double to give Community a 2-1 lead. Pacey Cope’s misfielded groundball brought in another run to make it 3-1.

The State Fair Community College commit Head struck out five and allowed three runs on four hits in three innings and then the Moberly Area Community College signee Holman struck out 10 and allowed an unearned run in six relief innings.

Ayden Meranda walked to lead off the fifth inning before scoring on an error later in the inning, making it 4-1. 

Cairo (8-5, 5-2 CAC), who is coming off a third-place finish in Class 1, tied the game at 4 in the bottom half of the fifth inning following two singles and a one-out error. The Bearcats scored one run on a fielder’s choice prior to Holman coming through with a two-RBI triple to tie the game.

The Trojan starting pitcher Carroll reached 100 pitches and was taken out after five innings, allowing four runs (one earned) on seven hits and two walks while striking out four. Gavin Allen, along with going 2-for-3 at the plate, struck out six in 3⅓ relief innings and allowed one run on three hits and three walks.

Community couldn’t advance a runner into scoring position after the fifth inning and then Holman scored Head on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning.

“They threw their best stuff and we threw our best stuff, and we happened to go there and got the last chance to score,” Krato said. “My kids played with their hearts out, playing with their emotions. It didn’t go our way.”

The Trojans played for CAC title on Tuesday at Pilot Grove (12-8, 6-1 CAC) before playing at Mark Twain (2-14).

Trojans at Pilot Grove Photo Gallery

“One of our first games, I jumped my kids for not playing district championship level,” Krato said. “I thought the last few games prior to (Monday against North Shelby), even against Cairo, I thought we played like a district championship team. They beat us in nine innings at their place against collegiate arms. We did everything we possibly could to win the game, and it just didn’t go our way.”

“I think we are a district championship team, and I think we can make a run for Final Four, but we’ve got to fix some things,” Krato said. “We have the arms to do it, but we’re a little inconsistent at the plate. For the most part, I think we’ll be alright.”

Trojans play for tomorrow, lose 22-2 in three innings to North Shelby

Rather than focusing entirely on the short term, Community thought about the long term on Monday at home.

Community R-6 vs North Shelby Photo Gallery

The Trojans lost 22-2 in three innings to North Shelby but didn’t have all of their bullets available. They used four pitchers against the Raiders — finished with 15 hits and five doubles — who had a combined 5⅔ varsity innings going into Monday. 

Head coach Joel Krato said baseball is a long season to begin with that forces coaches to follow some regulations, especially when it comes to the frequency of usage for pitchers. Krato said, since Nos. 1 and 2 pitchers Gavin and Mason Carroll both were on the mound in a potential Central Activities Conference title-clinching game on Friday at Cairo, the Trojans (11-4) didn’t have its full staff available against North Shelby (7-4), but the pitchers would be back for Tuesday’s conference title game at Pilot Grove.

“It’s tough with Class 1 baseball because you’ve got pitch counts,” Krato said. “You’ve got a good team like North Shelby, and you burned your No. 1 and No. 2 on Friday and then you’re saving your No. 1 and No. 2 for a conference championship game (Tuesday). Then you also don’t want to burn your 3 and 4 because what happens if your 1 or 2 runs out of pitches?”

Krato added that while the Trojans were forced to use one of their top four in Mason Rohan, he didn’t throw too much and that allowed him to stay away from catcher Eli Johnson, whose arm needed to be saved to avoid too much soreness for Tuesday.

In the long run, Krato said the loss doesn’t affect Community in any way as he emphasized to his players to just forget about the game and focus on Pilot Grove. Drake Welch, Cooper Rohan and Tucker Cox each had opportunities to face tougher competition above the typical junior varsity hitting. 

Speaking of hitting, Krato thought the hitting wasn’t that bad against North Shelby’s No. 1 pitcher Casey Shockley as Allen finished 2-for-2 with an RBI, Carroll was 1-for-1 with an RBI and a walk and Ayden Meranda had a single and a run.

“That’s a good arm, and I thought we swung the bats well,” Krato said. “We scored two runs off their No. 1, and we hit a ball on the screws in the first inning that got caught.”