Great pitcher's duel. Kyle Donovan goes 6 1/3 brilliant innings and only gives up one earned run. Trinity's pitchers (two left-handers) did a great job themselves and Trinity played great defense (their SS is impressive), as did Ryle.

 

Ryle had maybe 4 hits in this game and only had one runner reach third base and he was thrown out at the plate trying to score from 2B on a single. Hard to believe Ryle could not find a way to scratch out at least one run in this game. Not sure how many Ryle hitters struck out, but it was quite a few. It's amazing to see how many Ryle hitters put themselves down in the count by staring at a first pitch fastball thrown down the middle of the plate. They're all pressing and it affects their aggressiveness at the plate.

 

The good news for Ryle is that all five of their losses have come to highly ranked teams in the state (#5, #7, #13, and #19 twice) and they had a chance to win four of those games. The pitching has been outstanding from the first game of the year. There really hasn't been a bad outing yet and I would guess the team's ERA is around 1.50 or so. The defense has been up and down, more down than up lately, but ultimately will be a strength for this team.

 

The hitting is worrisome. Still early and it will improve, but instead of being the strength that was expected, it now appears to be something they will have to work around and may have to battle throughout the year. It gets tough asking your pitchers to hold opponents to 1 and 2 runs every game.

 

Schedule gets a bit easier this week (no ranked teams!) with Holmes, Cooper, Highlands, and Boone (seeding game Friday night at Ryle).

Along with Roenker (Holy Cross) I can't think of a better junior pitcher in NKY than Donovan. He was really awesome today against a top team in Kentucky. Keep it up young man, lots of innings to throw yet this year.

Wow, good showing for Ryle in both games today!

Along with Roenker (Holy Cross) I can't think of a better junior pitcher in NKY than Donovan. He was really awesome today against a top team in Kentucky. Keep it up young man, lots of innings to throw yet this year.

 

Did Trinity throw a junior pitcher? I've heard they have a pretty good one in Corey Littrell.

Did Trinity throw a junior pitcher? I've heard they have a pretty good one in Corey Littrell.

 

No clue. Tall, thin lefty for 5 innings and then a taller, more husky lefty for last two. Both were good, but not overpowering.