Pitching in the Heritage League isn’t easy, but Santa Clarita Christian’s Jacob Trosper made it seem flawless when the right-hander struck out 12 in a 5-1 win over the Vasquez Mustangs in the league opener on Monday.
“Really good pitching performance from our team,” Cardinals head coach Ryan Franchimone said. “We scaped off a couple of runs when we needed to but overall, pitching is what kept us in the game.”
Trosper ended the day on the mound throwing 5 innings, including 12 strikeouts, while allowing two hits and one run. And in the batter box, Trosper gave himself some run support.
Trosper went 2-for-2 at the plate with two runs batted in and hit a home run in the bottom of the fifth inning that got the Santa Clarita Christian (1-2, 1-0) dugout to erupt in excitement for their starting pitcher.
After the game, Franchimone said that Trosper has been a main player the Cardinals have relied on to begin the year and that it was nice to see him come up big in the win.
“He has been one of our guys to start the season, along with a couple of others,” he said. “It was nice to see him get another good outing, a strong outing and to get to hit the baseballlike that. We’ve been waiting for that for a little bit.”
Trosper was relieved in the sixth inning by Zach Peña, who stuck out the side to head into the seventh.
With three outs away from the team’s first win of the season, Peña returned on the mound and felt the pressure from the Mustangs’ (0-4, 0-1) offense.
After the first batter reached off an error, the Cardinals were in a bases-loaded situation with the Mustangs only 90 feet away from scoring.
The Cardinals recorded the first out after the ball was fielded to Peña, who then got the force out at the plate.
With the Mustangs turning to the top of the lineup, the Vasquez batter popped up to Trosper, who was moved to shortstop after being relieved on the mound, and got the third out at second after the base runner was halfway to third.
With the game-winning double play, Franchimone gave credit to Trosper for the heads-up play at shortstop and preventing any runs from coming in.
“That’s why he’s playing shortstop for us,” he said. “He’s a good athlete and has a very good first step … as soon as I saw him have a great first step and a great jump, I’m glad he caught it, and I’m glad that our second baseman was there to cover.
In the end, the Cardinals recorded their first win of the season in the Heritage League home opener, and with the win, also recorded their first victory over Vasquez since 2018.
Ther Cardinals will look to finish the season series against the Mustangs on Thursday at Vasquez High School.
With the win on Monday, Franchimone believes the Cardinals can finish the series off with a sweep and is excited to see his team take the field again.
“We have been talking about how important it is for this team and our confidence to get the first win,” he said. “It was great to see them go out and execute what our game plan was and we’re hoping to get another one on Thursday and complete a sweep.”
