From the very beginning you could tell this would be a game the Bethel baseball team would like to forget. The Wildcats (6-4, 3-4) committed four errors in the opening inning, and allowed Oxford High to jump out to a five run lead en route to a 14-9 loss.
Oxford sent 11 men to the plate in the inning taking advantage of the multitude of miscues from the Wildcats. Zach Albin got the less and went three and a third innings before being lifted. He surrendered 10 runs, only three earned, and struck out five.
“Any time you spot a team five to start a game, and you make your starter throw that many pitches, when he really didn’t deserve that, it just puts a lot of pressure on you for the rest of the game,” Coach Ray Turek said.
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Chris Galvin came on in relief and pitched the final three and two thirds, he gave up six runs, four of which were earned.
The Wildcats scored once in their half of the first and then added runs on in all but the second and fifth innings, even cutting the deficit to two at the end of the fourth. But, each and every time the Wildcats scored, the Wolverines would respond with runs of their own in their very next at bat.
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Albin, Andrew Guercio, Alex Amaru, Matt Gallagher, Ryan Nuzzo and John Sorice all had a pair of hits for the Wildcats. Guercio doubled and drove in three runs, while Albin and Sorice both tripled and had an RBI. Nuzzo doubled and drove in two.
“We scored nine runs, anytime you go into a game and put nine up, you expect to win it,” Turek said. “I thought we had some good at bats, we made some good swings, hit balls hard that they made plays on today.”
Unfortunately, as great as the offense, it wasn’t enough to overcome the six errors that led to seven unearned runs.
“At times we can be a good defensive team, it just seemed like today was just a total meltdown,” Turek said.
Bethel’s next game is Monday at home against Immaculate High, the game is set to start at 3:45 p.m. After that they will play at Weston High on Tuesday, and Joel Barlow High on Wednesday.
