Trinity Baseball Hopes to Continue Tradition of Excellence

Gil Morales, Trinity Christian Baseball

1. School: Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville, Florida
2. 2015 Season: 24-8, Florida Class 4A State Champions
3. Years As a Head Coach: 13
4. Overall Record: 198-145, Four state titles

Impact players to watch

Trinity Christian has four seniors and two juniors who, both offensively and defensively, will lead the team.

• First baseman Jeff Fripp gives the Conquerors power and is their biggest run producer. He will catch the ball regardless of where it is thrown, and he saves his defense from throwing errors. Fripp has committed to Lander University.
• Shortstop/second baseman Austin Martin provides consistent contact at the plate and uses the whole field. He can steal bases, and he is an excellent overall base runner. Martin has committed to Jacksonville University.
• Second baseman Colton Yeager is a defensive whiz. Like Martin, he makes contact, gets on base, takes the walk, and knows how to run the bases. He is also an excellent bunter. Yeager will join Fripp at Lander University.
• In the outfield, J.C. Flowers runs down nearly everything. He has a tremendous arm that keeps runners at bay. Offensively, Flowers is the ideal lead-off man with blazing speed and patience at the plate.
• Junior catcher Angel Acosta is a wall behind the plate, blocking pitches with ease. He throws out base stealers consistently. Offensively, he hits for high average and advances runners.
• Junior outfielder Logan Nugent hits the ball as hard as anyone else and drives in many runs. He scores often with the offense he has behind him. Like Flowers, Nugent has a tremendous arm.

Pitching-wise, the Conquerors are loaded with arms, beginning with Flowers, a University of Kentucky commit.

• Flowers throws in the mid-90s and averages more than a strikeout per inning. He saved five games in 2015.
• Senior Troy Jackson also averages over a strikeout per inning and can hit 90 mph. Jackson also has impeccable control.
• Junior A.J. Labas throws very hard with good control and is already a University of North Florida commit.
• Sophomores Chad Ragland and Levi Sigler are joining the varsity roster this year. Both throw hard with pinpoint control. Ragland also figures to close this season.

New key player to watch

Outfielder Todd Lott is new to Trinity in his senior year. He was named Gateway Conference Player of the Year in Jacksonville and was selected to play in the Florida Diamond Club as one of the top prospects in Florida. Lott has committed to the University of Louisiana-Lafayette.

Other big contributor

Coach Morales has named the following as key contributors to this year’s success:

• Junior Dalton Terrell, RHP. 85-87 mph. Terrell will be a big part of the pitching rotation this year.
• Senior Matt Parker, RHP. 84-86 mph
• Senior Parker Aman, INF. Aman was a key role player last year, and hit over .300 in the postseason.

Team strengths for 2016

When asked, Coach Morales answered, “Our strength will be the leadership returning from last year’s state championship team. We have strong pitching coming back. Labas and Flowers both throw 90+ fastballs. We also have a great lineup of guys who are all advancing to the next level. We have two catchers in Angel Acosta and K.C. Isenberg who have been able to control a great staff and have pop times under 2.00.  With the schedule we play, we will undoubtedly play at a high level throughout the 2016 season.”

OFFENSE:                Year    BA      AB      R         H         2B       3B       HR      RBI

Jeff Fripp                    Sr         .216     85        20        19        6          0          4          16

Austin Maritn              Jr         .402     87        28        35        8          3          0          11

John Flowers               Sr         .256     82        22        21        4          0          1          8

Logan Nugent             Jr         .286     84        14        24        4          0          0          16

Angel Acsota              Sr         .324     34        2          11        1          0          0          6

Colton Yeager             Sr         .361     23        15        9          0          1          0          3

Todd Lott                   Sr         .360     17        6          1          8

PITCHING:              Year    W/L     SV       IP        K         BB       ERA

A.J. Labas                   Jr         2-2       3          34.2     27        8          1.42

J.C. Flowers                Sr         1-2       5          11.1     13        8          3.90

Troy Jackson               Sr         3-0       0          16.1     17        4          1.02

Chad Ragland                         Jr         0-1       3          10.2     13        8          0.00

Levi Sigler                   So        1-0       0          10        0          1          0.00

This year, the Conquerors have seven players already committed as the season begins:

• Jeff Fripp, senior – Lander
• Colton Yeager, senior – Lander
• C. Flowers, senior – Kentucky
• Todd Lott, senior – Louisiana-Lafayette
• AJ Labas, junior – UNF
• Austin Martin, junior – Jacksonville University
• Dylan Simmons, freshman – Florida State University

Coach Morales expects three more of his seniors to commit before the season ends.

NE / Special Feature / 04/16

Trinity Baseball Hopes to Continue Tradition of Excellence

Written by: Raymond Bureau

Photography courtesy of Trinity Christian Academy