APRIL 4, 2017 - NEW MADISON
The Covington Buccaneers dropped a heartbreaking 4-3 contest in eight innings at Tri-Village on Tuesday to fall to 1-4 on the season - with three of the losses coming by a single run.
"We played well enough to win and we should have won," said Covington coach Mitch Hirsch. "But hey, we have to keep plugging away."
Hirsch has every reason to feel disappointed that his team didn't come away with a win due to the outstanding performance on the hill by Nathan Blei, who went the distance and struck out eight batters.
"Nathan threw pretty well - hit his spots for the most part," said Hirsch. "We had a couple of mistakes defensively that cost us and we didn't hit the ball as well as we probably should have. They (Tri-Village) also had some big hits a key moments, so you have to give them credit."
Tri-Village scored a run in the bottom of the first in the most uncharacteristic fashion - a balk by Blei that scored the runner from third.
"I can't ever remember him (Blei) being called for a balk - ever," said Hirsch.
Covington finally broke through with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth, but Tri-Village plated a run in the bottom half of the inning to tie the score at 2-2.
The Buccaneers took the lead right back with a run in the top of the fifth and was within one out of ending the contest in the bottom of the seventh.
But Tri-Village got the big hit it needed to score the tying run and send the game into extra innings.
Covington went down in order in the top of the eighth and Tri-Village capitalized on a Covington error in the bottom half of the inning with a walk-off single by Jonny Wilson.
In all, Covington connected on five hits, while Tri-Village had eight hits - four coming in the final two innings.
Mason Dilley went 3-for-3, while Kenny Atkinson, Tristin Sowers and Cage Kerrigan all drove in runs.
"We're getting better every day," Hirsch said. "We could just as easily be four and one right now instead of one and four. But we have to keep plugging away and getting better."
Covington has a day off tomorrow before hosting Ansonia on Thursday.
SCORE BY INNINGS:
Covington - 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 - 3 - 5 - 2
Tri-Village - 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 - 4 - 8 - 2 |