Trojan baseball has tough finishes

New Prague High School’s baseball had some tough games lately as the Trojans went 1-4. The four losses came last week, first against Orono, 6-0, Tuesday, May 6, then 10-3 to Chanhassen, Thursday, May 8 and then a doubleheader to Chaska, Friday, May 9, with the first game 5-3 and the second 4-2. New Prague began this week with a 8-4 win over St. Louis Park, Monday, May 12.
The Trojans hosted Lakeville North, Tuesday, May 13, with results not available as of press time. New Prague was at Waconia, Wednesday, May 14, for a 7 p.m. game and are back home Friday, May 16, against Benilde-St. Margaret’s for a 4:30 p.m. game. The Trojans then have two away games, the first at Bloomington Jefferson, Tuesday, May 20, and then at Orono, Thursday, May 22, both games are at 4:30 p.m.

Orono 6,
Trojans 0
“We struggled to get anything going offensively in this game,” said New Prague head coach Tanner Oakes of the home game.
Orono took the lead, 4-0, in the second inning and added its last two runs in the fourth inning.
The Trojans had three hits and two walks for the game.
“Kole Wagner gave us a competitive start on the mound and battled out of some jams,” Oakes said.
Wagner went five innings allowing 10 hits, six runs, five walks and struck out four. Karder Schmoll and Nate Friedges came in for relief, both pitching for one inning. Schmoll had one hit, one walk and struck out one, while Friedges allowed one walk and struck out three. New Prague had five errors for the game.

Chanhassen 10,
Trojans 3
“The final score did not indicate the type of game this was,” said coach Oakes. “It was a great game for the first 5 innings, then we just had one bad inning where Chanhassen put up a lot of runs.”
The Storm lead 3-0 until the fourth when the Trojans scored 2 runs. Chanhassen extended its lead by six runs in the top of the sixth inning. New Prague scored its third run in the bottom of the sixth. Getting the three runs for the Trojans were Nate Friedges, Joey Friendshuh and Ben Simon.
On the mound, Noah Sticha allowed four hits, three runs, one walk and struck out three. Relief pitchers Derek Aasen and Bryce Deutsch each went one inning with Aasen allowing six hits, six runs, one walk and striking out one, while Deutsch allowed one run and one walk. The Trojans had seven errors for the game.

Chaska 5,
Trojans 3
“This was a game where we struggled defensively in some big situations that really hurt us,” said Oakes.
The Hawks scored three runs in the top of the first inning. From there, New Prague kept Chaska from scoring, until the seventh inning when the Hawks scored two runs. The Trojans tried to rally in the bottom of the inning and scored three runs. Getting those three runs for New Prague were Sam Gilles, Derek Aasen and Nate Friedges.
“Sam Gilles was great on the mound, and battled to be able to pitch the whole game, and give our team a chance to win,” Oakes said.
While Gilles allowed nine runs, he and the defense limited the Hawks to five runs. Gilles had two walks, but evened it out with five strikes.

Chaska 4,
Trojans 2
“We gave Chaska too many free bases to work with early in the game, and they took advantage of that in the first two innings,” Oakes said.
The Hawks scored their four runs in those two innings. Starting pitcher Nathan Kudrle allowed those four runs, five hits and four walks, while striking out one.
“Nate Friedges and Michael Bruner came on in relief and did a great job of putting up some zeros to give ourselves a chance,” said Oakes.
That chance came in the seventh inning as New Prague cut Chaska’s lead in half. Scoring the two runs were Sam Gilles and Wyatt Giesen.
Friedges allowed one hit, one walk and struck out five, while Bruner allowed only two walks. For the game, New Prague allowed four errors.
“As with the other games this week, we just couldn't string together baserunners to generate enough offense,” Oakes said. “We did a great job of competing, but we are going to have to find ways to get some baserunners against quality pitching from other teams.”

Trojans 8
St. Louis Park 4
“We did a great job of competing throughout the entire game especially after having a tough second inning defensively,” said Oakes.
The Trojans scored the first run in the first inning, but the Orioles jumped ahead with four runs in the second. It turned out to be the only runs for St. Louis Park as New Prague’s pitchers and defense took control.
“(Pitcher) Kole Wagner did a great job of putting up zeros, and Derek Aasen came in and got some big outs in the sixth and seventh innings,” Oakes said. “Our middle infield turned a crucial double play in the sixth as well.”
 “Offensively, we had good production up and down the lineup with some clutch hits in the fifth inning by multiple guys,” Oakes said.
In the fifth the Trojans took the lead with five runs and added two insurance runs in the sixth inning.
Pitcher Wagner went five innings, allowing eight hits, four runs and two walks, and struck out three. Aasen finished pitching for two innings, allowing three hits and two walks and struck out one.