MARCH 28, 2011 - COVINGTON
It wasn't the start to the 2011 season Covington coach Mitch Hirsch was looking for as his Buccaneers committed seven errors and struck out 13 times in a 6-1 loss to New Knoxville on Monday.

"I don't know what to say," said Hirsch in regards to his team's lackluster effort in the season opener. "In our three scrimmages we maybe had three errors combined. Tonight, we looked like we've never been on a baseball field before."

Junior hurler Steven Blei threw into the sixth inning before sophomore Austin Angle closed out the game for the Buccs. The duo only allowed five hits and walked just two batters the entire evening.

"Our pitchers did their jobs," Hirsch said. "When you only give up five hits and allow two walks, you've pitched well enough to win. Unfortunately, we didn't play defense behind them."

Covington didn't help out its cause at the plate either, consistently chasing pitches out of the strike zone. The result was 13 strikeouts, several coming in critical situations with runners in scoring position.

"We never could put a bat on the ball when we had runners in scoring position," Hirsch explained. "In the first and fourth innings we had runners at second and third with one out and the next two batters struck out. In the sixth we had bases loaded and scored a run on a error with no outs and the next three batters strike out. It's disappointing."

In all, Covington left seven runners on base and recorded just three base hits throughout the contest.

To make matters worse, errors seemed to come in bunches as four of the seven errors were committed in the fifth inning.

Which was frustrating for Hirsch, even though he had players on vacation and several youngsters making their first start.

"Yeah, we had some kids who were making their first start and it was cold, but that's not an excuse," said Hirsch. "Even though we had some younger kids out there, they've played a lot of baseball and know how to play. We just didn't play well tonight."

Covington (0-1) looks to rebound tomorrow as Anna comes to town for another non-conference match-up.

SCORING BY INNINGS:
New Knoxville ..............0..0..0..3..0..1..2..0 - 6-5-3
Covington .....................0..0..0..0..0..0..1..0 - 1-3-7