Ashwaubenon – The Notre Dame Academy (NDA) Tritons (0-1) faced off against the Appleton North Lightning at Capital Credit Union Park on a brisk, 35-degree day. After a tough outing, the Tritons fell to the Lightning 14-4.
“We do everything we can to prepare for this cold—parking lot fly balls, playing on the turf football field,” said Tritons head coach Jared Barker. “But this is something we do every year. It’s Wisconsin baseball.”
The game began with three Appleton North runs off NDA starting pitcher Jack Collins in the first inning, followed by a scoreless second inning. The Lightning tacked on two more runs in the third, extending their lead to 5-0. In the fourth inning, a pitching change by Barker brought in senior Adam Guyette.
The Tritons found a spark in the bottom of the lineup during the fourth inning. Senior Jack Frelich stepped up to the plate and ripped a base-clearing, one-out double to cut the deficit to 5-3.
“I just wanted to put the ball in play with the bases loaded and only one out,” said Frelich. “It felt good to finally put some points on the board.”
On the very next pitch, Christian Collins sent a ball 385 feet to the warning track, easily bringing in Frelich. However, Collins overran his base coach’s signal and attempted to stretch it into an inside-the-park home run. A relay throw from dead center and a head-first slide resulted in a close play at home, where Collins was called out.
After a strikeout to end the fourth inning for the Tritons offense, Guyette continued his shift on the mound into the fifth. However, after facing two more batters and giving up a first-pitch triple, he was replaced by Frelich. Frelich limited the Lightning to three runs in the inning, sending the Tritons into the sixth trailing 8-4.
“You just gotta go in and throw strikes and hope your defense plays well behind you,” Frelich said. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t what I pictured was going to happen today. They had some good hits, we had some errors—just gotta go and get the next game.”
Frelich gave up five additional runs in the sixth inning. Junior Drew Magnuson pitched the seventh, holding the Lightning to one more run for a final score of 14-4.
“We didn’t give up today,” Barker said. “Being down 5-0, it’s easy to give up on a cold day like this. We came back, scored four runs, and put ourselves in a position to make a run. We’ll keep building on that.”
The Tritons will continue their season against the Xavier Hawks at Green Bay Southwest High School this Saturday, April 5, at 6 p.m.
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