The First Academy Defeats Trinity Prep 8-2

Baseball is a game of numbers–logical, straight-forward, and analytic. But sometimes coincidences occur during the game that couldn’t have been written better by a storyteller. During The First Academy’s 8-2 win over Trinity Prep on Friday night, these coincidences were all over the place.

The first odd parallel was the fact that both starting pitchers took a no-hitter into the fourth inning. The Royals pitcher was Joseph Charles, and the Saints pitcher was Andrew Roberts.

“We got to tip our hat to the pitcher they had tonight,” said Royals manager Scott Grove, speaking of opposing pitcher Andrew Roberts. “He had a good two-seam fastball that ran into our right handers and ran away to our lefties. He was one of the only pitchers so far that’s really shut our offense down.”

Furthering the odd parallel, both pitchers threw five and two-third innings, and both were replaced by teammates wearing the number 20. And, as chance would have it, the first hit of the ballgame came in the bottom of the fourth inning off the bat of Joseph Charles, the Royals pitcher. It was largely a game controlled by both pitchers for the first bit of the going.

Before Joseph’s hit, the Royals struck first, scoring three runs off a combination of walks, infield grounders, and a towering fly ball. Despite the damage, The First Academy came out of the inning with only one true hit.

Joseph’s defense was there to back him up the entire game. Cody Oerther at second base was eating up ground balls from the very start, turning a crucial double play in a first inning that could’ve easily turned south for The First Academy.

“If you have your head down the ball will find you,” Cody said after the game.

His teammate and starting pitcher Joseph ran into some mild trouble in the first, but quickly settled down after that double play.

“He seemed to really settle in,” Grove said of Joseph. “Our whole team’s been fighting an illness, so we haven’t really been full strength, but it felt good to go out there and compete. We had some guys that hadn’t played a whole lot before get some playing time tonight, and we’re happy that Joseph threw strikes.”

The Saints answered in the top of the sixth, and broke Joseph’s no-hitter with a two-run shot off the bat of catcher Jared Herron. It sailed over the left field seats, and was only the second hit given up by Joseph in the night. Charles finished with eight strikeouts in his terrific outing.

“I think the biggest thing is the chemistry we have,” Charles said after the game when asked what sets his team apart. “Everybody has each other’s back–and we know down the road we’re going to face tough teams, but I don’t think we’ll run into another team that’s as tight as we are and that’s really our biggest advantage.”

This tight-knit group doesn’t just exist between the players, it exists between the manager and the players as well.

“Our needs come first before his, so when there’s something important like an SAT, he’s all for encouraging us,” Cody Oerther said. “He’s huge with helping us out with colleges and everything.”

The Royals remain atop 4A District 3 with a record of 8-1, and they’ll continue to progress and remain a tight-knit group for the weeks and months to come.

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