CLINTON—A steady sprinkle eventually gave way to a constant chilly rain that forced the Beloit Turner and Clinton baseball teams to send everyone packing with the game all tied up at four in the sixth inning on Thursday.
For the Trojans it wasn’t anything new, the spring season thus far has been filled with all kinds of adversity.
What has really impressed Turner head coach Jeff Clowes is the way that his squad, which returned just one varsity starter, has been rolling with the punches.
“Every team's got to go through adversity to find out who you are,” Clowes said. “Every time you get that choice, whether you're going to fight or flight. These guys have chosen to fight. We're getting better on the mound and we're gaining confidence in different places. Each time out, we're growing and getting better.”
Before the Trojans even took the field against their Rock Valley Rock rivals, a little bit of bad luck struck again.
Caesar Alfaro was due to make the start but had to miss the game due to sickness. Jayden Mosley was next in line but he too couldn’t pitch after coming down with a similar illness.
So, Ethan Halon got the call to take the mound. He struggled a bit to start, allowing four earned runs in the first two frames. But the junior settled in to throw a clean third and worked around a walk and single in the fourth. He got two outs in the fifth but a one-out walk and a hit batter prompted Clowes to bring in Zack Ries in relief.
Halon struck out nine and walked four while allowing seven hits in the 4 2-3 inning outing.
“Ethan’s been real sharp for us,” Clowes said. “As the game went on, he got better. He found some off-speed stuff. A lot of that comes with starting to believe in yourself a little bit and understanding that you're in the right place and to let us play defense behind you.”
Senior Andy Buckley, who moved from third to shortstop, is Turner’s lone returning starter, and, with the spring weather being in flux, game-time action has been hard to come by for the eight new starters.
But the fielding has started to come around as Turner has committed just one error in its past three games, including Thursday’s unfinished contest, after it was charged with five in the first two.
“It's been great to have the turf over at our place (the YMCA Youth Sports Complex) because we've been outside (for practice),” Clowes said. “We just tell them that we live in the Miami of Wisconsin. We're gonna get the best weather in south central Wisconsin. And if we have turf and lights, we should be outside more than anybody. We've been outside a ton, and we try to compete and make competitive environments in practice as much as we can.”
Turner opened the season with a 19-7 win over Monroe, fell to Delavan-Darien 8-5 and Jefferson 13-4 but now has a small winning streak going with wins over Monroe (10-4) and Clinton (8-3) in the past week.
While the pitching and fielding has started to come around these past few games, Clowes has consistently been impressed about the lineup.
“Jayden Piccione is a really tough out at the top of our order, he's had some ten, 12-pitch at bats, so you can just tell he's grinding,” the head coach said. “Brayden Ward's been a scrappy hitter in the middle of our order. But every night there's been a different guy. We've been really excited early on with the quality of at bats that we've had, a lot of barrels.”
So, among the growing pains, sickness and spotty weather, the Trojans sit at 3-2 (when Thursday’s contest will be finished is TBD), and they hope that their best baseball is still ahead of them.
“I'm excited about our weekend going into Waupun (for the DeBoer Diamond Classic) and I'm glad we had a good two games with Clinton here where we had to fight a little bit because it's the only way we're going to find out who we are,” Clowes said. “And the sooner we do it, the better we're going to be.”
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