Cobras trend upward against Lake City

The Triton baseball team has been in a rut by dropping its first nine games to begin the year. While such a rough start could mean the end before the year even begins, the Cobras have been able to trend in the right direction and put together their best game of the year against Lake City on Monday afternoon.

“It’s a big accomplishment for us here,” Triton baseball coach Mike Ellingson said of the 3-1 loss. “We got a couple of strikeouts on the mound and were able to pick a couple of runners off on the basepaths. It kind of had the vibe of a baseball game today.”

On the mound, Levi Smith had an effort worthy of a win as he threw a complete game in just under 80 pitches. As he threw strikes and gave the Cobras a chance to win, the game was tied at one heading into the bottom of the fifth when the sophomore ran into some trouble.

With the bases loaded and two outs, Smith was able to get a batter to pop up between the shortstop and left field, but a lack of communication caused the ball to drop as the Tigers scored a pair of runs that would prove to be the difference.

“Defensively, we were able to make some plays,” Ellingson added. “Today, it just came down to one play.”

While the result wasn’t what Triton was looking for, there were a couple signs of the learning process beginning to be applied on the field. After having four of the first six batters strike out to begin the game, the Cobras were able to make adjustments at the plate to strike out just twice the rest of the way.

“Our kids did a nice job adjusting after the first couple innings,” Ellingson commented. “We were able to get the ball in play today and we faced a great lefty that hit his spots.”

Ellingson also believes that the little things, such as a hit and run or getting the bunt down, is starting to come into