Zane Trace opens baseball season with a victory

KINNIKINNICK – The weather may have been cold, but Zane Trace's bats were hot.

The Pioneers (1-0) handed Eastern Brown a 10-0 loss in its home opener on a blustery Saturday afternoon.

The victory came on the heels of Pioneers' starting pitcher, Josh George (1-0), who went the distance on the mound.

"Josh threw well, especially considering the conditions," Zane Trace coach Ron Allen said. "He had his curve ball working too. He wasn't as sharp as he usually is around the plate but I think the 28 degree temperatures had something to do with that. He's throwing the best he's thrown all spring right now. He did real well out there today."

On offense, George had all the help he could dream of with a stacked Pioneer' lineup that continued to lace rope after rope into the outfield grass.

Zane Trace opened the scoring in the bottom of the second inning, scoring five runs on six hits and an error.

With one out, junior Trey Davis lined a screamer up the middle, knocking in the first two runs of the contest. Junior shortstop Alex Wolff followed with an RBI single and seniors Drew Barr and Brice Graves got in on the action, knocking in a run each.

In the bottom of the third, the Pioneers would add to the lead — via RBI singles from Davis and Wolff — to make it 5-0; chasing Eastern Brown' starter Baron Frost out of the ballgame.

"Trey (Davis) and Alex (Wolff) are the catalysts of this ball club," Allen said. "They get us started as far as everything goes on the offensive side and they get on base a lot. If they can continue to do that, we're going to be in good shape because the middle of our lineup is going to drive in runs."

As George controlled the game on the mound, Zane Trace took advantage of an opportunity it was given in the bottom of the fifth.

The Warriors' Brian Griffin — who had entered in the bottom of the fourth inning to relieve Frost — retired the first batter he faced, but walked two batters and allowed a single.

With the score sitting at 8-0, Barr delivered once again, sending a high fly ball to the left center field gap for a double, knocking in the last two Pioneer' runs.

"We hit the ball well today and we've hit the ball well in all four of our scrimmages this year. Hopefully, that continues as the season goes along," Allen said.

Barr led the Pioneers, going 3-4 with two doubles and three RBI. Wolff followed by also going 3-4 at the plate and added 3 RBI as well. Davis finished 2-3, scored three runs and collected three RBI.

George's final line featured a complete game shutout, with 10 strikeouts, four walks and just two hits allowed in the entirety of the game.

For Eastern Brown, Jacob Diener and Nick Kelch registered the only two Warrior' hits.

Frost went three innings on the mound, giving up six earned runs on 11 hits while Griffin went 1 1/3, allowing three hits and three earned runs.

Zane Trace finished the ball game with 14 hits and seven runners left on base.

The Pioneers will see the diamond once again at 6 p.m., Monday, at Minford.

"Minford is probably going to be one of the top two teams Division II this year," Allen said. "After we play them, we've got Circleville on Wednesday and Sandusky Perkins on Friday night, who went to the state tournament last year. So we're going to have our hands full. But if we hit the ball and throw strikes, we're going to be in good shape most of the time."

Derrick Webb is a Gazette sportswriter and can be reached at dwebb@chillicothegazette.com. Follow him on Twitter at @dw1509.