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Morristown West had just three hits as Science Hill slowly stretched its lead in a 9-0 shutout at Wild West Park on Monday night.

West trailed from start to finish, as ‘Toppers Haydon Smelser homered in the first inning. Anderson Craft homered in the third, and Smelser hit his second in the sixth to help put the game on ice.

With the loss, the Trojans fell to 13-18 and dropped their fourth straight District 1-4A game after a 2-0 start.

“We came out, and we struggled at the plate,” West head coach Justin Pickett said. “You know, we kind of got away from our approach. We took way too many good pitches early and put ourselves in a hole. We got down one nothing then four nothing. We were really flat. And here’s the thing, too. I mean, I’ve been there before, whenever you’re down trying to come back, and it’s tough. And you hate getting down early, because you want to be the one to get on the board early. You want to create some momentum. You want to do those things that kind of spark the team. And it’s just tough. Whenever you’re down from the first inning on, it’s hard to really create a spark.”

The lone bright spot for West at the plate was Hayden Wild, who had a double and a triple in the loss.

“He came out and had some good at bats,” Pickett said. “But one guy can’t do it. So, you know, we got Grainger tomorrow. We’ll try to go out there and put a good game together. And I told the guys that we got to come out, and we got to bring the effort with the right attitude, come out here, compete again. You know, we’re 30-something games in, so you’re getting close to tournament time, which you look forward to, but at the same time you got to make sure you’re cleaning up the things, getting quality at-bats, not walking guys in certain times of the game or giving them free bases here and there. And if we do all that stuff, we’re pretty good little team, but if we don’t, this is what shows.”

Pickett knows that it’s all about the tournament, and the Trojans will spend this last week of the season trying to get right.

West was on an upward trajectory a few weeks ago as it began to string together some win streaks. However, close losses to Science Hill and Dobyns-Bennett stopped the momentum.

While Pickett’s squad showed that it can hang with the top of the district, the Trojans have lacked that signature win that has sparked the success in recent seasons.

West missed the opportunity against both D-B and Science Hill the first time around, and they couldn’t find much success in the second meetings with both teams.

Pickett hopes that the Trojans can build their confidence back up and hopefully find that signature win come tournament time.

“Those are all really tough teams, and it sucks because it does hurt the confidence a little bit,” he said. “But you’ve got to take away from it all the positives. You got to learn from the negatives. You got to learn from the mistakes. Tomorrow’s another day. You wake up, you come out here, you get to compete. It’s all you can ask for. And the next time we face Science Hill or Dobyns-Bennett, I’m hoping we’re a much different team because I know what we got, and I know the guys and their potential. I don’t want to say we’re intimidated, but we got to come out here and be aggressive, and if we lose, we lose, but we got to compete every single pitch and every single play and get after it.”

Following Smelser’s home run, the Trojans got their first base runner by way of a Connor Rouse single and didn’t have another until Wild doubled in the fourth.

At that point, the Trojans only trailed by four and stayed within range of a potential comeback. However, West couldn’t get anything going, and Smelser’s second blast sparked a three-run sixth to make it 8-0, with the ‘Toppers adding another in the seventh.

The Trojans traveled to Grainger on Tuesday and close its season with crosstown rival East on Thursday and Friday.

“It starts on the mound, and it sets the tone that first inning at the plate. It sets the tone of the game,” Pickett said. “And right now, collectively, the last three or four nights, we just haven’t set anything. You know, we’re waiting. We’re waiting for somebody to do it. So, that’s important. We’re going to try to, you know, get that back tomorrow and carry it over Thursday and Friday, against our cross-town rival. I don’t think we’ll have any problem getting it up and having the energy, but it’s staying composed, doing the little things, having good at-bats, putting the ball in play, putting pressure and just finding ways to win.