APRIL 27, 2010 - COVINGTON
Covington coach Mitch Hirsch was looking for answers following a frustrating 4-0 loss to Mississinawa Valley on Tuesday.

"I don't know what to say," said Hirsch in disbelief. "Coming off of a big win against St. Henry on Sunday, to play like this is embarrassing."

Covington upset the state-ranked Redskins at Fifth-Third Field on Sunday night, but looked like a totally different team against Mississinawa Valley. The emotion just wasn't there.

"We told the kids before the game that we needed to stay focused or these guys would beat us," Hirsch explained. "That's what happened. We weren't focused and they beat us."

Neither team could get anything going offensively as the game went into the top of the seventh inning as a scoreless tie.

But Mississinawa Valley broke the game open with a four-run inning and then shut Covington down in the bottom of the seventh for the shutout.

In all, Covington could only manage four hits in the night.

"We only hit three balls hard all night," said Hirsch. "Their pitcher didn't throw hard at all, but we didn't stay back and drive the ball. We were on our front foot all night."

Brandon Powell started on the mound for Covington and threw two scoreless innings before giving way to Steven Blei. Blei pitched four more scoreless innings, but surrendered all four runs in the top of the seventh. C.J. Poling came in to record the final three outs for the Buccs, but the damage was done as Blei was tagged with the loss.

"All three of our pitchers threw well," Hirsch said. "We didn't hit the ball tonight and that cost us."

The defeat drops Covington to 5-14 overall and 3-3 in the CCC.

The Buccs look to rebound tomorrow night as they host Bethel.

SCORING BY INNINGS:
Mississinawa ........0...0...0...0...0...0...4 - 4 .. 5 .. 1
Covington ..............0...0...0...0...0...0...0 - 0 .. 4 .. 1