Athens tops Troy to win NTL Large School baseball title.
By: Chris Manning | Towanda Daily Review | May 9, 2015 | Photo courtesy Chris Manning
2015 NTL and District 4 News
EAST TROY - In a rare year the NTL Large School baseball title came down to the final league game between the two teams vying for the championship.
On the road Athens was looking to get revenge from their first loss of the season and played like a team on a mission.
The Wildcats struck early and Tyler Forbes was dominant for the first five innings as Athens defended their title, beating Troy 10-1 Friday.
"After the last game we played them we played pretty poorly," said Forbes. "It feels good to come back and beat them by that much."
"It's a nice accomplishment," Athens coach Brendon Hitchcock said about winning back to back titles. "We showed up when we needed to. It's a really nice way to finish out league play."
Forbes was strong in the first outing against Troy, striking out nine while allowing three hits and one earned run in that 1-0 loss.
This time he went six innings, striking out 12 while allowing three hits, one walk and one earned run.
"I was confident in my stuff," said Forbes. "I knew I could keep them under a couple runs, our offense just had to be on tonight to win."
Forbes worked ahead most of the game and the only hit he allowed in the first four innings was an infield single.
"I always want to get out ahead because I like to throw my curveball," he said. "Keep them off balance and stuff like that."
Cody Jennings pitched the seventh.
And after a mid-season malaise Athens found their bats again, pounding out nine hits, including four doubles.
Forbes was 2-for-4 with two doubles, 2-RBI and a run scored while Zane Vargason was 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored.
Ben Rubert was 2-for-4 with 2-RBI as well while Luke Newman was 1-for-4 with 3-RBI.
Cody Jennings added a double with 2-RBI and a run scored while Marc Felt had a hit with 2-runs.
Nick Vosburg scored twice while Ryan Kennedy and Justin Reagan also crossed home.
They looked like the Athens team from the start of the season that scored runs at will.
"Everyone was playing a part," said Vargason. "We were in a little bit of a slump but we focused, we stayed on our gameplan and we did well."
Errors also hurt the Trojans as they committed three, all of them in big Athens innings.
The Wildcats scored two in the second followed by three in the third, two of them off a Newman single that broke the game open.
"Coming in we knew we had to tack on a few early if you want to really beat these guys," remarked Vargason.
"It really sets the tone," said Hitchcock. "We have our ace on the mound and once you get a couple you feel very comfortable because you know the other team's got to press. They've got to be thinking, 'How do I put up a bunch of runs off this guy.' That makes it very nice that way and I think it kind of frees our offense up a little bit and we had some good production."
They would get two more in the fifth followed by three in the sixth.
Troy got their one run in the bottom of the sixth to force a seventh inning.
Jarod Mattocks was 1-for-3 with a run scored for the Trojans while Isaac Havens was 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Chance Lantz also had a hit.
On the mound Kyle Schucker started, as he did in the first meeting. This time he went three innings with one strikeout while allowing six hits and five runs, two of them earned.
Havens went the next two, striking out three while allowing four walks, two hits and four runs, three of them earned.
Brandon Mattocks pitched the sixth with one strikeout, one hit and one earned run.
Jarod Mattocks threw in the seventh.
Early on in the season it looked like Athens wouldn't need to win in the final game of the season to claim the title.
However after their loss to Troy they hit a slump, which included their second league loss to Mansfield.
But earlier this week they turned things around in a 10-5 win over a hot Wellsboro team before beating Troy.
"I think Wellsboro was big to try to control a game and get back to the offensive production that we're accustomed to," said Hitchcock. "The neat thing about the dip or the lull, whatever you want to call it, is that every coach knows you're going to see that. You're going to have adversity, you're going to have a spurt in the season and we found a way to get through it and still win baseball games. We wouldn't be here today if we didn't find a way to win some close ones. It was very important."
Hitchcock credits getting back to basics for their recent turnaround.
"We just got in the cage and got back to working on pre-season and guys were coachable," he explained. "That's helped a lot."
Two close wins included an extra innings victories over Sayre and Canton and a come from behind win in the seventh against Towanda.
"You know what it's going to feel like in the post-season, you know you're going to have to win a close game down the stretch," said Hitchcock. "You're going to have to beat a good arm, you're going to have obstacles so to experience a little bit of that throughout the year, even though it makes a coach feel like they're going gray, you know it's a good character builder for when you get there again."
With their title defended the Wildcats are looking toward the post-season where they have a chance at being the top seed in District IV, Class AAA.
"I knew we were a strong offensive team and that we can hit the ball," said Vargason. "We were in a bit of a slump but it does feel great to hit the ball again. You can just tell from the past two games that we've been sticking it well and that we're back in our groove."
