Trojan Shield Weekly Update: February 25, 2019

Greetings from Trojan Country!

Basket

We were watching the weather forecast last week at this time, and as predicted the bad weather changed the schedules of the outdoor teams pretty dramatically. We went into the week prepared for ten games, but ended up only playing half of those contests. The plus side was we won three of the five and are ready to play the other five on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Props to our baseball and softball athletes and coaches, they managed to move a great amount of snow off the fields this weekend to get them ready to go. Good work teams!

The Lady Trojans soccer team was in action on Saturday, not on the soccer pitch, but helping AYSO run a camp for the area children. Coach Peter Freeman and his team spent Saturday morning at Sebastiani Gym. Over 50 area soccer players showed up on the snowy morning to take part, learning basic skills and enjoying some fun games. You can see in the photos below that the TSJC athletes had a great time as well. Awesome job Lady Trojans! #TrojanProud

Last Week's Results

Men’s Basketball –

Defeated Northeastern 74-70 OT
Defeated Western Nebraska 96-74

Women’s Basketball –

Fell to Northeastern 82-73
Fell to #21 Western Nebraska 76-61

Baseball –

Defeated Luna 7-6

This Week

Monday -

Baseball hosts Southeast CC at Central Park at 12pm for a doubleheader
Softball hosts Luna CC at Southside Park at 2pm for a doubleheader

Tuesday -

Baseball hosts Southeast CC at Central Park at 12pm for a nine-inning game
Women's Basketball hosts Otero JC at 5pm at Scott Gym
Men's Basketball hosts Otero JC at 7pm at Scott Gym

Friday -

Women's Basketball plays Otero JC (Region IX Playoffs) either in Trinidad or La Junta depending on the outcome of Tuesday’s game
Track and Field will be at the NJCAA Indoor Track and Field National Championships in Pittsburg, Kansas

Saturday -

Men's Basketball hosts a first-round playoff game - Region IX Playoffs
Track and Field will be at the NJCAA Indoor Track and Field National Championships in Pittsburg, Kansas
Baseball hosts Northeastern JC for a doubleheader at Central Park starting at noon
Softball hosts Western Nebraska CC for a doubleheader at Southside Park starting at noon

Sunday -

Softball hosts Western Nebraska CC for a doubleheader at Southside Park starting at 11am
Baseball hosts Northeastern JC for a doubleheader at Central Park starting at noon

Baseball walks off opening win

Kevin Gutierrez

The baseball team finally got the opportunity to play a game in front of the home fans on a chilly Wednesday afternoon at Central Park. The Trojans had to come from behind Luna CC a couple of times, but they fought back to get a walk-off win in the ninth inning 7-6.

The Trojans fell behind 1-0 after the first inning when an error allowed a Luna runner to cross the plate. TSJC had a big second inning, including a two-run home run to right-center by catcher Kevin Gutierrez to go up 4-1. TSJC’s bats fell silent for a good stretch of the contest and Luna retook the lead with one run in the fourth and four more in the seventh. A two-run, two-out double off the bat of Ethan Hammond knotted it back up in the eighth. Anthony Durbano, who struck out four in relief to pick up the win, sat the Roughriders down in the ninth and set Trinidad up for the dramatic win. Ivan Arce started the inning off with a single and an error allowed him to move to second. The Trojans moved him to third with one out and it was Gutierrez who would bring Arce around with a single onto the grass. Five Trojans had two hits each in the game, Arce, Gutierrez, Hammond, Cody Beck and Reid Baty. Sophomore pitchers Vance Ferraro and Jeron Petterson each had strong showings on the hill, combining for five strong innings of work in the middle innings, allowing only four hits while striking out five.

TSJC will start region play on Monday afternoon when they host Southeast CC for a doubleheader starting at noon at Central Park.

Men’s Basketball dominates region foes

Issac Essein

The Trojan men played their best basketball of the season this past weekend, defeating two of the top teams in Region IX in consecutive nights to climb right into the middle of the playoff picture with one game left on the schedule. TSJC defeated Northeastern in overtime on Friday and then ran past region leading Western Nebraska on Saturday afternoon.

Friday night’s contest was tight throughout as the teams exchanged the lead many times. TSJC got some great shooting late in the contest to take a six-point lead with only minutes remaining. The Plainsmen fought back and sent it into overtime with a driving basket in the closing seconds. It was NJC’s turn to go up early in the extra period as the Plainsmen hit a pair of 3-point shots. Trinidad got shots from Issac Essein, BJ Shabazz and David Muenkat to tie it back up at 70. An NJC turnover and score by Goy Wang put the Trojans up to stay and Shabazz sealed the 74-70 win with a pair of late charity tosses. Essein led the Trojans with 18 points and six rebounds, Muenkat added 17 points off the bench and Shabazz finished with 14.

On Saturday afternoon, the Region IX leading Western Nebraska Cougars were given a rough welcome to Scott Gym. The Trojans led the 22-6 Cougars by as many as 26 on route to a 96-74 win. TSJC shot 55% from behind the 3-point line, making 18 triples in the contest. Wang had a huge game, finishing with 26 points and nine rebounds. Essein dumped in 15 points, nine rebounds and six assists and Aleck Sharma was another bright spot for TSJC adding 14 points.

The Trojans are 18-9 overall and will host Otero JC on Tuesday night for the final regular season game of the season. Both the Trojans and the Rattlers will host playoff games next weekend. Whoever wins on Tuesday will be the three seed, the loser will be the four seed. The first-round game will take place on Saturday evening at Scott Gym with the winner joining the elite eight at Sheridan, Wyoming the following weekend.

Lady Trojans fall at home

Hannah Gilmore

Despite a strong performance in two consecutive nights, the Lady Trojan basketball team found themselves with a pair of losses to nationally ranked Western Nebraska and 20-plus win Northeastern JC.

The Trojans led most of the first half on Friday against NJC, but saw the Plainswomen pull away late for an 82-73 win. Cassia Mccaskill was the hot-hand for the Trojans putting in 23. Hannah Gilmore scored 16 and added 10 rebounds.

On Saturday evening the Trojans fell to nationally ranked Western Nebraska 76-61. TSJC trailed by 23 at the half but outscored the Cougars in the second half to cut the final margin to 15. Destinee Vigil was a force for the Trojans, putting in 22 points and adding three assists. Gilmore had a good game as well finishing with 17 points.

TSJC is 13-13 on the season, they will host Otero JC on Tuesday night at 5pm. The winner of that game will be the number four seed in the region playoffs and host a first-round game this weekend. The loser of Tuesday’s game will be the number five seed and will travel to the winner. Whoever wins that first round tournament game will join the elite eight at Scottsbluff, Nebraska the following weekend.