Huntland's Evan Keller drives a pitch back up the middle during a game Monday at Eagleville High School. Keller had a hit, two RBIs and a stolen base in the 9-2 loss.
Huntland's Evan Keller drives a pitch back up the middle during a game Monday at Eagleville High School. Keller had a hit, two RBIs and a stolen base in the 9-2 loss.
The Huntland High School Hornets lost to the Eagleville Eagles 9-2 on the road Monday for their sixth loss of the season.
The Hornets fell behind early and weren’t able to mount a comeback against the two-time defending Class A state champions as they took a district defeat.
Huntland head baseball coach Brent Davis said his team played well overall, but his players did make some mistakes in the field and at the plate.
“I felt like the game was a lot closer than what the score showed. We had just a couple of little errors, and my biggest takeaway from this is that we’re playing better in the field. We’ve just got to be a little more aggressive at the plate and not work ourselves into holes,” he said before referring to a rematch against Eagleville set for Tuesday. “If we clean up a couple little things, then tomorrow night’s going to be a different story.”
The Eagles scored four runs in the bottom of the first to quickly take control of the scoreboard.
Caleb Maxwell reached base for Huntland on an error in the top of the third, advanced to second on a wild pitch and stole third with nobody out, but the next three batters struck out to strand him there.
A throwing error with two outs in the bottom of the fourth extended the inning for the Eagles, and they took advantage with a two-run double a few batters later to make it a 6-0 game.
The Hornets broke through for their first and only runs of the day in the top of the fifth as Evan Keller came through with a two-out, two-run single to bring Maxwell and Blaine Counts across home plate.
However, the Eagles scored one run in the bottom of the fifth and two in the sixth to extend the lead once more as the Hornets lost by seven.
Maxwell started the game for the Hornets and recorded one out with three hits and four runs allowed.
Counts pitched the remaining 5 2-3 innings for the Hornets with one strikeout, eight hits, two walks, two earned runs and three unearned runs allowed.
With the loss, the Hornets moved to 7-6 on the season and 2-1 in district play.
They will next play Tuesday at home against Eagleville High School. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
