Huntland's Evan Keller swings at a pitch during a game Thursday at Richland High School. Keller had a hit, a walk, three stolen bases and a run scored in the 7-1 loss.
Huntland's Evan Keller swings at a pitch during a game Thursday at Richland High School. Keller had a hit, a walk, three stolen bases and a run scored in the 7-1 loss.
The Huntland High School Hornets lost to the Richland Raiders 7-1 on the road Thursday for their second loss of the season.
The Raiders scored all of their runs in the first four innings with the Hornets not being able to catch up for the rest of the game.
Huntland head baseball coach Brent Davis said his team’s defense was sloppy in the game with multiple costly errors.
“(We) had decent pitching. They got us some groundballs that should have been outs, and we have yet to field a groundball cleanly and make a play,” he said.
The Hornets were the first team on the board as Evan Keller hit a leadoff single in the top of the second, stole second base, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a balk by Richland’s pitcher.
However, the lead wouldn’t last long as the Raiders scored a run off of a throwing error in the bottom half of the second to tie the score at 1-1.
The Raiders capitalized on a few Huntland errors in the bottom of the third to push four runs across in the frame and take a 5-1 lead.
The final two runs of the day for Richland came in the bottom of the fourth as a sacrifice fly and a run scored on a wild pitch put the Hornets in a six-run hole.
The Hornets loaded the bases on walks by Eli Wiggs, Trace Morris and JT Jackson in the top of the sixth, but they weren’t able to produce any runs out of the situation, and they were also held scoreless in the seventh inning to conclude the loss by six.
Daltyn Howell pitched the first four innings for the Hornets with six strikeouts, six hits and seven unearned runs allowed.
Morris pitched two scoreless innings in relief with two strikeouts and one hit allowed.
With the loss, the Hornets moved to 1-2 on the season.
They will next play Friday at home against the Huntsville Falcons. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
