Baseball Recap: National Trail Finds Home Field Redemption Against Botkins

There's no place like home for National Trail, who bounced back after a loss on the road on Wednesday. They were the clear victors by an 11-1 margin over the Botkins Trojans on Thursday. Considering the Blazers have won three matches by more than nine runs this season, Thursday's blowout was nothing new.

Braylon Coffey made a splash while hitting and pitching. He tossed three innings while giving up just one earned run off four hits. Coffey was also solid in the batter's box, going 2-for-3 with three stolen bases and two runs. He has been hot recently, having posted at least one stolen base the last four times he's played.

Cooper Smith

Runs

04/17/25 vs Botkins	2
04/10/25 vs Mississinawa Valley	2
04/07/25 vs Trotwood-Madison	2
04/16/25 @ Twin Valley South	1
04/08/25 @ Bradford	1

In other batting news, Cooper Smith was incredible, getting on base in all four of his plate appearances with three stolen bases, three RBI, and two runs. He is becoming a predictor of National Trail's success: when he posts at least two runs the team is undefeated (and 1-6 when he doesn't). Jackson Skinner also deserves some recognition as he got his first hit of the season.

National Trail always had someone on base and finished the game having posted an OBP of .562. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Botkins only posted an OBP of .364.

National Trail pushed their record up to 4-6 with the win, which was their third straight at home. Those home victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 10.7 runs over those games. As for Botkins, they now have a losing record of 3-4.

Coming up, National Trail will be playing at home against Franklin Monroe at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday. As for Botkins, they will take on Russia at 5:00 p.m. on Friday.