Trinity faces the unknown

Published 11:57 pm Monday, April 19, 2010

NATCHEZ — Tonight, the Trinity baseball team will attempt to solve a mystery.

When the Saints head to Coushatta, La., to face Riverdale Academy for the first round of the MAIS Class A playoffs, they will face a team they know nothing about. And because of that, head coach Mitch Ashmore said his team would have to be on top of its game.

“I’ve been doing this thing a long time, and the clichés are all the same,” Ashmore said. “We have to take this team like they’re the best team we’ve played all year.

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“We have to go in with that mindset, because we don’t know anything about these guys. We don’t know about the area we’re playing, we don’t know what the field conditions will be like… we just don’t know. All we know is, every ball club we face from this point forward will be good. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be here.”

Trinity’s center fielder Trevor Faust said the unknown factor of an opponent forces a team to focus solely on itself.

“There’s nothing you can really do other than go our and play your game,” Faust said. “You can’t have any mental mistakes or any errors. You just have to go out there, focus and play.”

When it comes to confidence, though, Faust said he and his teammates aren’t lacking any, even if they don’t know what they’re up against.

“I think this year’s team is probably our best team here (at Trinity) ever,” Faust said. “We had a pretty good run last year, but I think we’re more of a team this year. We’re just better all around.”

Ashmore said he doesn’t expect his players to be overconfident, however.

“At this point, you can never be overconfident,” Ashmore said. “We look at it from a week-by-week standpoint. We just want to go into each series and take two out of three games.”

Since many of Trinity’s players have postseason experience in several different sports, Ashmore said he think they know what to expect from this point forward.

“I think it’s great that they know when big games are in front of them and they understand that it only gets harder as you go on,” Ashmore said.”

Last year’s playoff experience should go a long way in helping Trinity this postseason, Faust said.

“Last year’s playoffs gave me experience and helped me know situations,” Faust said. “You have to know those little things to be good — that’s what Coach Ashmore always teaches us.”

After today’s game, Trinity is scheduled to host Riverfield for a doubleheader Thursday at Liberty Park. The first game will be at 4:30 p.m. and the second game 6:30 p.m.