Line Mountain falls to Troy.
By: Charlie Roth | Towanda Daily Review | April 15, 2015 | Photo courtesy Charlie Roth
2015 NTL and District 4 News
MANDATA - Line Mountain and Troy will play in one of the opening games of Saturday's Zalar Tournament at Shamokin Area.
Tuesday afternoon, the Eagles and head coach Jon Raker had an opportunity to get a first-hand scouting report when the Trojans made the long trip south to Line Mountain for a non-league matchup.
The Eagles learned plenty. It was, however, a costly, painful experience.
The Trojans - flat out - can hit.
They pounded out 16 safeties, including five doubles and a home run, in rolling to their fifth victory against no defeats, 9-5.
"They hit the ball, and we had trouble at the beginning of the game getting ahead of their hitters," Raker, whose team fell to 3-4 with the loss, said. "They got up early and put us in a hole."
That was a bit of an understatement.
With Troy plating three in the first and two in the second, and Line Mountain struggling a bit at the plate, the Eagles found themselves in an early 5-0 hole.
"We've been hitting the ball," Troy coach Steve Mattocks said, in another understatement. "This is the first seven-inning game we've played all year."
The top four hitters in the Trojans' lineup - Brandon Mattocks, Jared Mattocks, Kyle Jackson and Isaac Havens - did the bulk of the damage.
Brandon Mattocks had a home run and single, driving in two. Jared Mattocks plated one with a double. Jackson knocked home one with a double and two singles. And Havens had a big four-for-four day, including a pair of long doubles, and drove home three. Those four accounted for six of the nine runs.
Line Mountain got back into it a little bit in the bottom of the fourth when RBI groundouts by J.P. Lenker and Tanner Spatzer cut the deficit to 6-2, but RBI doubles by Jared Mattocks and Jackson helped bump that up to 9-2 in the top of the fifth.
The Eagles threatened again in the sixth and, in fact, pushed three runs across courtesy of a single by Lenker and five walks issued by Jared Mattocks, working in relief. The inning ended with the bases loaded when Kellan Masser flied out to short left field.
"We had opportunities where we had runners on base and we didn't get the big hit," Raker said. "But, we battled back and that's a bright spot."
