APRIL 30, 2010 - COVINGTON
In Covington plays fundamentally sound defense the end result it usually victory. But when the defense falls apart it can get ugly.

Which is what happened Friday night to the Buccs as five errors resulted in seven unearned runs in a 10-5 loss to Tri-Village.

"We've got to play good defense to win games," said Covington coach Mitch Hirsch. "Tonight, we didn't play good defensively."

Combine the fielding mistakes with the fact that Tri-Village was hitting the ball all over the ball park to the tune of eleven hits, it made for a rough afternoon for the Buccaneer pitchers.

The Buccs used four pitchers in the contest with C.J. Poling getting the start and going three innings. Jake Stewart threw one inning and Dylan Fortner went one-and-two-thirds. Adam Craft pitched the final four outs of the game for the Buccs.

And it wasn't a poor effort on the mound for the Buccs. In three of the six innings Tri-Village scored runs the Covington would have been out of each inning unscathed if plays were made in the field.

"A couple of the errors were communication errors and the others were just plays that should have been made," Hirsch said. "In the sixth we got the first two batters out and had two straight errors after that. A couple of base hits by them and three runs go on the board."

It all led to a 9-1 lead for the visitors heading into the bottom of the sixth, but Covington made a game of it in the final two at bats by scoring two runs in the sixth and then two more in the seventh.

And Covington had the bases loaded with a chance to cut into the 10-5 deficit, but couldn't take advantage of the opportunity.

"They took advantage of our mistakes and we didn't take advantage of our opportunities," Hirsch said. "We were a step slow tonight."

Which spells doom against a quality baseball team like Tri-Village.

"They're not a bad team at all," Hirsch praised. "They hit the ball well and played error-free baseball."

Covington managed just five hits in the contest with three of those being doubles by Brandon Flora, Ben Wilson and Kellen Woloch.

The Buccs drop to 7-15 overall and 5-4 in the CCC.

SCORING BY INNINGS:
Tri-Village .........0...1...1...2...2...3...1 - 10 - 11 - 0
Covington .........0...1...0...0...0...2...2 - 5 - 5 - 5