Triple threat: Arthaud’s pair of extra-base hits propel Pirates to non-conference blowout

HANNIBAL, Mo. — Konnor Asbury did not know Alex Arthaud had it in him.

As Arthaud — the Hannibal baseball team’s 6-foot, 208-pound junior catcher — motored around second base and coasted into third with his second triple of Wednesday’s game against Elsberry, Asbury could not help but be impressed.

“I was like, ‘OK, he’s like that. He’s like that,’” Asbury said.

Arthaud’s first two career triples highlighted the Pirates’ 14-0 victory in five innings at the Veterans Sports Complex.

“That’s the catcher speed,” Arthaud joked.

Arthaud’s first triple came in the first inning when he went with a 2-1 pitch from Noah Duvall and pierced the right-center field gap. Waylon Anders and Patrick Arthaud scored to give the Pirates a 3-0 lead as Alex Arthaud dove head-first into third base before right fielder Matt Brown could chase the ball down and get it in.

“It burnt him by a mile,” Alex Arthaud said.

In the fourth inning, Arthaud used the other gap to leg out his second triple, this time hitting it over left fielder Nolan Holland’s head. Holland misplayed the ball as it bounded off the fence, allowing Arthaud to reach third.

“I didn’t think I was going to get there,” Arthaud said.

Asbury didn’t think so, either.

“Two triples in a game is crazy,” Asbury said.

Arthaud had a difficult time recalling the last time he hit a triple.

“Back in the old days,” he said.

Pirates coach Ian Hatton was just as impressed with Arthaud’s hitting approach as he was with his extra gear on the basepaths.

“That’s what I say. Hit it to the deepest part of the park and get him a triple, and he got two,” Hatton said. “I’m proud of him for that. He made a nice adjustment at the plate, and that’s what you get rewarded with.

“In all seriousness, that’s something a lot of guys in our lineup have struggled with at times, especially against guys who aren’t throwing very hard. I was happy to see that tonight, and I was happy to see that approach out of a lot of our guys at the plate.”

Asbury did that, too, going 3 for 3 out of the seventh spot in the lineup.

“He’s had kind of a slow start to the year, but he’s coming around,” Hatton said of Asbury. “He always plays great defense for us, and he always has a great attitude, so there’s no doubt he’s going to start picking it up offensively.”

The Pirates scored six runs in the bottom of the fourth, then starting pitcher Cole Baxter fashioned his fifth scoreless inning to put the mercy rule into effect. Baxter struck out seven, walked one and gave up just three hits. He threw 42 of his 60 pitches for strikes.

“He threw tons of strikes and made it much easier for the defense to be engaged, and they made the routine plays, made some nice plays,” Hattons said. “We had to get back to doing the fundamental things right, making the routine outs and having better approaches at the plate, and I think we did that tonight.”

The Pirates (3-6) resume North Central Missouri Conference play on Thursday when they host Mexico. Hannibal dropped its first NCMC contest 5-2 to Moberly on Tuesday.

“Our first goal every year is to get a conference championship, and we didn’t exactly take a step in the right direction last night against a really tough team, but every game is an opportunity,” Hatton said. “The conference is wide open.”