It wasn’t the way Union Head Coach Ryan Bailey wanted to start the 2012 Union baseball season.
The Wildcats dropped a pair of home games last week to O’Fallon Christian last Tuesday, 7-2, and Rolla last Wednesday, 7-0.
Union’s scheduled game for Thursday at home against Waynesville was rained out.
O’Fallon Christian
The Wildcats opened the season Tuesday with a 7-2 loss to Christian from O’Fallon at East Central College.
“It was about what I expected,” said Bailey. “To win games, we’re going to have to play sound, fundamental baseball and have above average to great pitching performances in order to offset some of the deficiencies we have at the plate. We had too many errors and too many hitters’ counts that allowed Christian to get the good part of the bat on too many balls. The good thing is we get two more chances this week to make corrections and improve.”
Christian scored once in the second and once in the fourth.
Union scored single runs in the third and fourth innings to tie the game.
“We went into the fifth inning in a 2-2 ballgame and things quickly went downhill from there,” Bailey said.
Union’s runs came on five hits and one Christian error.
From there, Christian did all of the scoring. The visitors scored three times in the fifth and twice in the sixth. The seven runs came on six hits and three Union errors.
Jordan Weaks pitched six innings and suffered the loss, allowing seven runs (four earned) on six hits, three walks and one hit batter. He also had one wild pitch and struck out two.
“Jordan pitched a fairly good first ballgame,” Bailey said. “He kept us in it when our defense was below par but then when it picked up he tired out and Christian took advantage. They have a good lineup and we just couldn’t find that knockout punch to ever get the lead.”
Offensively, TJ Johnson led the offense with two hits, one run, an RBI and a stolen base.
The other hits were by Derek King, Devon Fennessey and Logan Williams. Fennessey’s hit was a triple. He also scored a run and a walk. King recorded a sacrifice which helped to advance Union’s first run.
Ashton Dehn walked twice while Austin Bentlage and Trey Fink each drew one walk.
“We struggled hitting and when we had opportunities we didn’t always take advantage of them,” Bailey said. “We stranded eight runners on base and had five strikeouts looking which is something we have to fix if we’re going to score runs.”
Rolla
Playing Wednesday at home, the Wildcats were held to just one hit in a 7-0 loss to Rolla at ECC.
“I thought going into the season that hitting would be the area we would struggle the most with and so far that’s held up,” Bailey said. “We need to have a plan at the plate and then be able to adjust that plan to what the pitcher gives us. We’ve got a long season still left and the boys have been working hard, so we’ll have a shot to get this thing headed in a better direction.”
Fennessey had Union’s hit. He also walked twice and stole a base.
Rolla scored twice in the first, four times in the third and once in the seventh.
The Bulldogs managed six hits and took advantage of two Union errors. Besides the hit, Rolla allowed seven walks and did not make an error.
Bentlage was the starting pitcher and suffered the loss. Over four innings, he allowed six runs on four hits, five walks, and one wild pitch. He struck out three.
Dehn threw two innings while allowing one hit.
Williams finished out the game, allowing one unearned run on one hit. He struck out one.
“I thought our pitching would be our strongest part of the game this season, but so far it’s been a disappointment,” Bailey said. “Our starting pitchers have allowed hitters to get too comfortable at the plate by getting behind in the count and relying too much on the fastball. Christian and Rolla are both good hitting teams and when they know a fastball is coming they’ll put the good part of the bat on the ball. That’s been an area of concern so far this season.”
Union batters drawing walks were Fink, Bentlage, Dehn, Weaks and Johnson.
