The Cardinals of Triad had a tall order ahead of them at the start of Friday’s game against the undefeated West Jefferson Rough Riders.
The order was too much for the Cards to overcome as they were defeated by their Ohio Heritage Conference rival, 10-0, in five innings.
The Rough Riders struck first with several ground balls that advanced a runner home for an early 1-0 lead.
Triad couldn’t get anything working inside the batters box as the Cards were set down in order.
Trevor Instine got the start on the bump for Triad. He was able to hold the bottom third of the line-up with a strikeout and a few groundouts.
The Cardinals’ struggles reared again in the third inning.
A single by West Jeff turned into a runner at third after a missed ball by Triad at third base.
Back-to-back doubles gave the Rough Riders a 4-0 edge by the end of the third inning.
“Just in general, we got down 1-0 and then 3-0,” said Triad coach Gary Davis. “I think we kind of shut off after that.
“We’ve got to find a way to continue and remind ourselves we are in a ball game through big plays and continue to pull the momentum our way.”
The Cardinals scratched out their second hit of the game in the bottom of the third.
Logan McCoy singled to left field, but Triad was unable to capitalize.
“We need overall discipline at the plate… walks and not strikeouts,” said Davis. “We need to put the ball in play on the ground.
“Today was a windy day and we need to hit the ball on the ground and we didn’t do that.”
The Rough Riders continued to pour on the runs in the fourth with consistent contact that loaded the bases.
A double that fell near the left field fence cleared the bags and gave West Jefferson an 8-0 lead.
The Cards continued to struggle at the plate. They did not tally their last two hits until the final inning of an abbreviated ball game.
Isaiah Bruce was able make contact with a ball that sailed high just over the third baseman. The wind was on the Cardinals’ side as the ball fell to the grass for a single.
McCoy found some space between the shortstop and third baseman for his second hit.
However, two strikeouts ended the game for Triad.
“We’ve got a lot of young guys – four freshmen -on the bench right now, who are seeing some very uncharacteristic Triad baseball and behavior as far as what we expect here,” said Davis. “They’ve got to be able to bounce back when bad things happen.
“We are learning that through the course of this season.”
Davis and his Cardinals will try to put this game behind them as they take on Southeastern today to start off a six-game week.
“We are coming into tournament time, we are hitting a stride playing six games next week,” he added. “Our hopes are high.”
The loss dropped the Cardinals record to 7-7.
on the season.
WJ 1 0 3 4 2 10 10 0
THS 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 4
WP- Boyd, 5 IP
LP- Instine, 4 IP