STORY BY ROB KISER - PIQUA DAILY CALL
TROY - Things were bizarre from the start in the second meeting of Piqua and Troy baseball teams.

Consider it was Piqua's Senior Night and the last six and two-thirds of the innings were played at Troy - Saturday afternoon after Friday game at Hardman Field was stopped by rain.

But, by the end of the first inning Saturday, two calls that were questionable at best put the Indians in a hole mentally they couldn't recover from in a 6-3 loss to the Trojans.

It looked like the Indians had started the day off with a big play.

Troy started the day with a 1-0 lead in the top of the first with two outs and two runners on.

When Alex Maiberger singled to left, Josh Lentz gunned down Erik Lamka at the plate with a strike to catcher Shea Selsor.

Selsor did a great job blocking the plate and put the tag on, ending the inning.

Moments later, a decision was made that could end Selsor's career.

On what appeared to be incidental contact after the players became entangled and Selsor attempted to free himself, the base umpire ruled that Selsor had intentionally kicked Lamka, meaning a two-game suspension for the senior. The call left Piqua coach Chris Barr and the Indian contingent in disbelief.

"Yes, there is an appeal process," Barr said about the suspension. "But, the umpire saw what he saw. I am not saying I agree with him - I don't. But, it is a judgment call."

If that wasn't enough, Logan Rasor was called for runner interference breaking up a double play in the home first - for sliding acros the bag. And again it was the umpire farthest from the play, in this case the home plate umpire, making the call.

The result was Piqua scoring just one run in the inning after Cole Selsor, Taylor Gertner and Rasor had three straight hits to start the inning.

"This team has been through a lot of adversity the last couple of years," Barr said. "It just seems like we never get a break and that was another example of it. And that wears on the kids.

"I know we would like them to act like adults - that is part of the process out here. But, they are 16-17 years old. You can't ask them to act like they are 30 years old - because they are not."

The end result was Troy opening a 6-1 lead, that Piqua couldn't recover from.

LINESCORE
Troy 120 300 0 - 6 7 0
Piqua 100 010 1 - 3 8 3

Compton, Lamka (7) and Smith. Rasor, Meyer (5) and Selsor, Jennings (2). WP-Compton. LP-Rasor. 2B-Troy: Wright. Piqua: Monbeck. 3B-Troy: Howell. Records: Piqua 5-18 (2-8), Troy 13-9 (4-5).

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