Rigby moves to 2-0 at new home, beating Century behind stellar Gray
Published at | Updated at
RIGBY — The Rigby Trojans opened their new home baseball field with a 5-2 win over rival Madison last week. They moved to 2-0 on the new turf digs with a 4-1 victory over the Century Diamondbacks, Saturday.
Rigby (5-8, 1-2) used just five hits to produce their four runs, but they let several golden opportunities to blow the game slip through their fingertips. Starter Zack Gray made the offense he received stand up, cruising through 5 dominant innings to earn the win.
Gray surrendered just one hit, walking two and striking out six in his scoreless start. Head coach Sam Phillips had high praise for the senior right-hander.
“Zack was a dawg,” Phillips said. “He came out and threw strikes … and competed. That’s what I needed. I asked him to give me five good innings, and he did it. He did his job, and we were in a good position because of that.”
Gray was tagged with a single up the middle by Century leadoff man CJ Short to start the game.
Short, though, was caught stealing second before two-hole hitter Jace Hammond drew a one-out walk. From there, Gray retired nine straight Diamondback batters, including four straight strikeouts. He issued a one-out walk to Daeton Poulsen in the fourth to break up that run of dominance, but then immediately rediscovered his groove, setting down the final five hitters he faced.
Century (4-10, 0-0) got something going against reliever Brayden Farmer, scratching across one run on an error and a pair of walks in the sixth. But Farmer also settled in, striking out the side in order in the seventh to end the game.
Phillips said, given the dominance and efficiency of Gray — who threw just 70 pitches — he briefly considered sending the starter back out to start the sixth. But he decided to give Farmer some work with conference play coming next week.
“I don’t want to overuse Zack’s arm right now,” the coach said. “We’ve got a lot of season left and I need him to be ready to go.”
The Trojans threatened in the first inning, following a one-out double from Gunnar Davis. But they left Davis stranded on third.
They capitalized on free bases in the second, scoring three times behind two walks, a hit batsman, an error and a two-out RBI single from Quinn Bennett. But Rigby left another run on base at the end of that rally.
The Trojans left the bases loaded in the third, fifth and sixth innings, but added an insurance run in the fourth on another RBI from Bennett.
All told, Phillips’ team left 12 runners on base — something he called “very concerning.”
The pitching, he said, was “excellent” and the defense “supported” that pitching very well. But the offense, specifically the situational hitting, will be a focal point heading into conference play.
“We need to do a better job hitting the ball, especially with runners in scoring position. But I’ll take the win,” Phillips said.
Bennett and Davis paced the Rigby offense from the top two spots in the lineup. Bennett went 1-for-4 with two RBIs, while Davis went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles.
Century’s Jaxton Humphries knocked in the Diamondbacks’ lone run on a fielder’s choice in the sixth. He also pitched the final 1-2/3 innings, stranding the bases loaded twice.
This was just the second game the Trojans have played on their new field, but they are already feeling the positive impact it has brought.
Phillips called the previous infield “very bad” with the consistent bad hops and errors and misplays that came with those hops. The new playing surface has eliminated that.
“Our defense plays very well on this (field), now that the bad hops are gone,” Phillips said.
Because the new field is turf, the team was also able to take the field much earlier in the year — some of the players even used the field during the winter, Phillips said, adding that this year was the first time since he began coaching at Rigby that the team was able to hold tryouts on the field.
Rigby accepted and saved donations for two years, building toward this substantial undertaking. Now, they are able to reap the benefits of this new field.
“This kids love it,” Phillips said, “and it’s going to help our program tremendously.”
EastIdahoNews.com comment boards are a place for open, honest, and civil communication between readers regarding the news of the day and issues facing our communities. We encourage commenters to stay on topic, use positive and constructive language, and be empathetic to the feelings of other commenters. THINK BEFORE YOU POST. Click here for more details on our commenting rules.