ROXANA – The Roxana U17 summer baseball team hosted Granite City Wednesday night. The Shells came out on top by a score of 14-4 through five innings.
This win comes off the back of another win Tuesday night over the Gillespie Elite. Roxana won 11-0 after six innings of play. Elias Thies pitched in that game and had nine strikeouts according to head coach Mike Roper.
Starting on the mound against the Warriors was Trevor Gihring. He threw all five innings and was excited to do so against his former school. He allowed just the four runs on the day.
“I couldn’t have done it without my defense behind me,” Gihring said postgame.
Most of Roxana’s runs came in the bottom of the fifth, including a two-RBI double from Gihring.
The Shells put eight runs past the Warriors in the fifth to end the game in a walk-off fashion.
“We’re taking good at-bats the last couple of nights,” coach Roper said postgame. “We’re playing really aggressive when we’re on base and our pitchers are just throwing strikes.”
The Shells will be back in action this weekend when they head to St. Louis to take part in a tournament.
“It’s important to get out here, get the at-bats, get the playing time, build the camaraderie, that kind of stuff,” Roper said.
It is so important because like high school head coach Jerry Wheaton always said, he’s got a very young team on his hands that can only get better.
“They have a good youth movement,” Roper added.
“He’s had his growing pains,” Roper said about Wheaton. “But I think his good years are coming.”
