‘Tis the season for baseball — and there’s no better way to start it off than by facing the 2021 3A state champions at home. The Trojans held their season opener May 15, bringing the No. 2 ranked Marion Wolves to the West field, and stacking up against the best.

After going scoreless in the first inning, the second inning proved hopeful for the Trojans. Shortstop Ben Hoefer ’23 kicked things off with a clutch force out on second base. Senior pitcher Aiden Van Iddekinge followed things up by striking out a Marion batter to end the top of the night. Once switched to the infield, Carter Freidhof ’23 earned West’s first run, triggering a string of more on the way. Zach Logsdon ’24 fell in suit with a score of his own, and junior Nate Heenan closed the trend off with a third. But with Marion’s agile first base defense, the inning came to a close with West up 3-0.

All momentum shifted to the Wolves after the inning switch. Marion came out of the gates with not one homerun—but two. The Wolves brought home a previous runner in between the back-to-back dingers to tie things up at 3-3. The Trojans dug into a hole, walking a Marion batter and allowing two additional runs to round out the top of the third frame. Friedhof had a walk of his own at-bat, followed by a swift steal of second base. However, the West effort was negated by the 3-5 rut coming out of the inning.

The fourth inning was a dominant defensive display with both teams keeping each other at bay. The Trojans ended the top of the frame preventing any runs by the Wolves, and Logsdon coming up with a catch deep in leftfield to earn Marion’s final out. Marion responded with its rapid first base defense making another appearance. Three successive West batters were forced out in similar, lightning fashions at first base to wrap up the 1-2-3 inning.

Marion kept the ball rolling with a third homerun right at the top of the fifth. West came up with three outs, and then added a run of their own with Van Iddekinge finding home base off of a single from Hoefer.

The Trojans pulled out a grand play in the sixth frame, stopping a Marion score from across the field. The deep midfield catch went from Jacob Koch ’24 to Hoefer from behind second to the home plate, cutting off Marion’s diving attempt. The cross-field play was thunderously celebrated by fans, but the top of the inning eventually ended with another run by the Wolves and more scrappy defense.

A pitcher change and an immediate foul batted by Marion later, West was feeling some juice. The Trojans came back with their own force out on first base, and a catch from Hoefer to end the top of the seventh inning. Once at-bat, West was forced out of first base and finally struck out twice in a slurry of pitches to close out the season-opening game.

The Trojans return May 16 with a doubleheader against Xavier, all starting at 5 p.m. at home.

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Camille Gretter

Senior Aiden Van Iddekinge started the season-opening game against the Marion Wolves on the pitcher's mound.