For the first time since winning the state championship in 2006, the Blessed Trinity Titans are in the state semifinals. Blessed Trinity will now make the 4-hour trip down south to Adel where they will take on state No. 1 Cook County in the final four.

The winner of Monday's best-of-three series (doubleheader on Monday, game three, if necessary, on Tuesday) will advance to Friday's state championship.

Tuesday, May 18

AA State Quarterfinal

Game 1

Through three rounds of 2010 state tournament action, Blessed Trinity has been dominant. How dominant? The Titans have played seven playoff games and they've won five of those the fun way: by beating a team so bad that the GHSA 10-run 'mercy' rule is invoked. Game one of the state quarterfinals was no different Tuesday as the Titans blew past the Pierce County Bears 12-2.

Titan starter Bret Marks pitched a gem, limiting the Bears to only two hits on the day. However, even with Marks' remarkable effort on the mound, the game was still tight at 3-2 going into the bottom of the fourth. That's when Blessed Trinity struck. Behind a 2-run triple from Rock Rucker, an RBI double from John Hagan and and RBI single from Ross Hampton, the Titans blew the game open with a 7-run fourth inning. 

After Pierce County went scoreless in the top of the fifth, Blessed Trinity tacked on two runs in the bottom of the inning for the win. The GHSA mercy rule says that if a team is trailing by 10 or more runs after five innings, then the game is over. If a team is trailing by 15 or more, the game can be called after as few as three innings. The Titans only played four innings in their 24-2 whitewashing of state No. 5 Jefferson in last week's game one.

Notes: Almost 30 MLB scouts were on hand to check out Jake Skole. Skole wowed them by hitting a solo home run (he was 1-for-4 in game one) to dead center that went almost 400 ft. It was Skole's sixth home run in six games since returning from an ankle injury that he suffered in early March.  

Blessed Trinity 12-2 over Pierce County

WP: Bret Marks (5 IP, 6 K, 2 H, 2 ER)
LP: Jayk Graham (4 IP, 3 K, 8 H, 8 ER)

Blessed Trinity Batting Leaders:

Jake Skole: 1-for-4, 1 HR
Rock Rucker: 2-for-2, 3B, 2 RBI, 2 Runs
Ross Hampton: 2-for-3, 2 Runs, RBI
John Hagan: 2-for-3, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 2 Runs

Game 2

After stunning Jefferson 24-2 in last week's game one, the Titans put themselves on the brink of elimination when they lost game two 3-1. Tuesday night, Blessed Trinity's Alex Cruz made sure the Titans weren't going to be playing a decisive game three. The Georgia Tech bound starter pitched four innings of two hit ball and knocked in six runs in Blessed Trinity's series clinching 11-1 win. The victory sends the Titans to the state semifinals where they haven't been since winning the state championship in 2006. 

In Cruz's first at-bat, he was drilled by Pierce County starter Trey Thompson. Cruz must have taken it personally, because in his next three at-bats, he made the Bears pay. In the top of the second (BT was the 'visiting' team in game two even though the game was at Blessed Trinity), Cruz sent a high fly ball to right field that ended up clearing the fence for a 3-run home run that put BT on top 4-0. 

After Pierce Country cut the lead to 4-1 with a run in the bottom of the second, Blessed Trinity quashed all Pierce hopes of winning with a 6-run third. After Ross Hampton (single), John Hagan (walk) and Chiefy Azar (walk) reached base, Jake Skole knocked them all in with a towering double to center field. Cruz followed up Skole two batters later with a 2-run double of his own that knocked in Skole and Matt Kinney. 

Up 10-1 going into the fifth, the Titans only needed one run to potentially win another game by the mercy rule (Pierce County would still get to bat in the bottom of the inning). Who would deliver that run? None other then Alex Cruz. Cruz knocked in his sixth run of the day with an RBI double that scored Kinney and put the Titans up 11-1. 

Freshman Keenan Innis closed the Bears down in the fifth with a statistical showing you'll rarely see: Innis had four strikeouts in the final inning. The freshman threw a wild pitch to Pierce County's first batter of the inning. The pitch, which was strike three, eluded catcher Ross Hampton and the runner got to first. Innis then struck out three more Bears batters to get four K's in the inning. 

Blessed Trinity 11-1 over Pierce County

WP: Alex Cruz (4 IP, 5 K, 2 H, 1 ER)
LP: Trey Thompson (1 IP, 1 K, 2 H, 1 ER)

Blessed Trinity Batting Leaders: 

Jake Skole: 3-for-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 3 Runs
Alex Cruz: 3-for-3, 2 2B, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 3 Runs
Matt Kinney: 0-for-0, 3 BB, 3 Runs