Trenton Baseball Downs Allen Park

A back-and-forth baseball battle Thursday afternoon at ended with the Trojans getting the best of league rival Allen Park, 5-4, thanks to a walk-off RBI single off the bat of Aaron Florios.

With the game tied at 4-4, Trenton senior Kris Wilson started off the bottom half of the seventh inning by taking a pitch to the thigh. The Trojans advanced Wilson to second with a bunt, setting the stage for Florios to line a pitch to right field and score Wilson for the win.

The other hero of the day was the man on the hill for Trenton. Sophomore Jordan Conti got the win, pitching a complete game and allowing just two hits.

Trenton struggled for the first three innings as Allen Park pitcher Nick Willie was throwing a nice variety of off-speed and breaking pitches.

Then Trenton coach Todd Szalka played a little old-fashioned small ball, bunting three consecutive batters to try to break through against Willie. The strategy paid off and Trenton was able to put two runs on the board in the bottom of the third.

Allen Park had a big fifth inning, getting three runs across to take a 3-2 lead before Trenton answered with two runs to regain the lead in its half of the fifth. Allen Park tied the game at 4-4 in the top of the sixth inning before the Trojans won it in the seventh.

Fans got their money's worth (although, technically, admission is free), but the coaches may not have enjoyed it as much with each team committing multiple fielding errors and costly base-running mistakes. But as Szalka said after the game, it's just a typical dogfight in the Downriver League.

"It is always going to be a battle in this league," Szalka said. "That's what's so great about it. It's like every game is Game 7 of the World Series."

Szalka said the baseball season benefits from being the last sport of the school year because Downriver student-athletes have developed so much familiarity with each other since many kids play multiple sports.

"It really makes it fun," he said.

Trenton improved its record to 17-6 on the year and 10-2 in league play. They travel to play in the Lakeland tournament this Saturday.