STARKVILLE — As the saying goes, ‘Walks will haunt you’, but five walks will give a baseball player nightmares.
That’s exactly the situation Starkville senior starter Otto Hyche worked himself into in Friday night’s home opener against New Hope.
It was a second inning he and the Yellow Jackets would like to forget, but one the Trojans desperately needed to begin their season. Having already gone down 3-0 due to walks and poor fielding, there was still a chance to salvage things.
New Hope senior shortstop Colin Perrigin, however, had different ideas, unloading on a center-cut fastball over the “Starkville Monster” in left field for a grand slam, one of his two homers in a 14-1 run-rule rout of the Jackets in five innings.
“I get in the box and I don’t try to think about anything,” Perrigin said. “I just swing hard in general, so when I connect, it’s just going to go. … Our lineup, we’re going to make it where we don’t even need the arms anymore.”
The Trojans (1-0) needed just six hits to record those 14 runs, benefitting off eight walks and four errors from Starkville.
Free bases were plentiful and New Hope took full advantage with Perrigin leading the way. Adding a cherry on top to the season opener, he hit a three-run homer an inning later, once again clearing the “Monster” to cap off a seven RBI night.
“He’s special, man,” New Hope head coach Lee Boyd said. “He’s capable of that and it’s nice to see. That grand slam really broke it open, let us breathe there a little bit..”
With expected top starter Austin Minichino out until next season with a torn ACL, the Trojans didn’t have to go far to look for a replacement, finding it in junior Conner Lewis, who silenced Starkville’s offense over four innings, allowing one earned run and three hits while walking two and striking out seven.
Sophomore Brayden Edmiston took care of the fifth, a scoreless inning of relief with a strikeout, to secure the run-rule win.
New Hope ended up coasting on Friday, but it was Starkville that shot itself in the foot, allowing at least a dozen free bases from walks and errors.
“You’re not going to win at all or give yourself a chance with that many walks,” Starkville head coach Mark Monaghan said. “You’re not going to be very successful, so we just have to do a better job throwing strikes.”
Hyche’s season-opening start began relatively successfully, striking out the side while dancing around a walk in the first before that disastrous second frame.
He allowed six runs in 1.1 innings of work, unable to find his footing, but with any start to a season, there are going to be some off-days.
“Otto is a great arm,” Monaghan said. “He’s going to be fine. It’s just one of those nights where it happens. We have to be a little better out of the bullpen, better on defense and just play cleaner baseball.”
Friday was undoubtedly New Hope’s day, an important start to a season that the Trojans hope will result in a deep playoff run and a chance to break a five-year state championship drought.
“I’m pleased to see our guys perform well,” Boyd said. “We had good plate discipline. We didn’t chase, which was good. … [Conner], he threw well tonight for us. We’re going to need that from him. All-around, good effort from them.”
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