Brian Trepanier's sacrifice fly gives Shaw four-game win streak

Shaw head coach Pat McGregor said his Raiders often wait around for someone to give them a spark. Last Thursday, it was Brian Trepanier, who came through with a big performance on the mound in a victory over Columbus.

On Tuesday, it turned out to be Trepanier once again.

Trepanier hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth to help Shaw beat Carver 4-3. The game proved to be a back-and-forth affair with Trepanier’s flyout and his 3 2/3 innings thrown in relief making the difference.

“Any region win is a big win,” McGregor said. “They’ve played us tough every time we’ve played the last two years. We’ll take it.”

The game featured an usual delay, as Carver players arrived about 20 minutes after the first pitch was originally scheduled. Trepanier said that posed a problem for he and his teammates who had already been warmed up.

“We were playing a little down,” Trepanier said. “I felt like we should have been playing with more effort. Being that it took them so long to get here, it made us go cold.”

Trepanier’s important at-bat in the fifth was set up by Kaleb Podger. Podger ripped the ball over the right fielder’s head and took off running on his way to a triple.

With only one out, Trepanier knew he had an excellent chance to do his job and break the tie.

“(I knew to) just get the run in any way possible,” Trepanier said. “I just hit one deep enough to the outfield so he could tag and score.”

“Kaleb got into one,” McGregor said. “Brian did a good job of handling the count and driving him in.”

Shaw’s latest win gives the Raiders a four-game winning streak and six victories in their last seven games. For a team that posted eight victories in 2016, the recent string of success is a promising one.

Tuesday’s scare against the Tigers is also just as valuable.

“These last couple of years, we haven’t found a way to win some of these tight ones,” McGregor said. “That’s something we talked about in the offseason and as we go to practice and prepare every day.”

The tight nature of Tuesday’s game against Carver came as a bit of a surprise for the surging Shaw team, but for Trepanier, walking away with another victory is all that really matters going forward.

“We just play our game, and hopefully we’ll come out on top like we did tonight,” Trepanier said.

This story was originally published March 28, 2017 at 8:07 PM with the headline "Brian Trepanier's sacrifice fly gives Shaw four-game win streak."