The TigerScots lost the first game of the season to Touchet, Wa 7-0 in a game that that saw some good baseball and some mistakes. Brian Duke started on the hill for the TigerScots and threw 4 scoreless innings, building on a strong showing from last year. The TigerScot bats were more thump, than thunder, but we put some good swings on the baseball, but not much to show for it. Ryan Webb and Drew Greenwalt had a good day at the plate with a couple hits to show for it.
Defensively, we showed some good promise (and some young mistakes). 2nd baseman Miles Thul and catcher Ryan Webb connected for a perfectly executed 1st and 3rd defensive play throwing out a runner at the plate. Shortstop Dallas Reich made a great play on an in between hop from Ryan Webb to get a base stealer. Shane Bond played a flawless 1st base with a great snag of an errant throw and still came down on the base preventing a run from scoring and preserving a 0-0 game in the 3rd. In the 6th, our youth came out a little with 5 errors, leading to 5 unearned Touchet runs. Some of these errors were mental, not physical, and with communication (entire team) can be fixed.
However, there were some great things that came out of the loss. Aaron Speed and Elliot Salter layed down great sacrifice bunts to advance runners. Ryan Webb played a great catcher in his first action back, throwing out 1 runner and leading the team defense. The little things matter tremendously at the varsity level and execution is a necessity. We have to get better at numerous aspects of the game and limit our opponents opportunities if we seek to compete in the Blue Mountain conference.
Grades:
Offensively: D (too many 1st pitch swings and not getting deep in counts)
Defensively: Innings 1-4----C+ to a B-, Innings 5-6 F (6 errors will do that)
Pitching: B (couple walks but overall, great job pitchers throwing strikes and getting ground balls)