Baseball: Foxes Fall For First Time

OSWEGO – This early in a baseball season, it’s too hard to get too up or down after a result.

That’s why Yorkville’s baseball team wasn’t freaking out after dropping a 5-2 non-conference tilt to Oswego East Thursday.

Since it was only the Foxes’ third game of the season, and first loss, Yorkville left Oswego still looking forward to the season ahead.

“I think we’ve got a good group of kids,” Yorkville coach Scott Luken said. “They’ve been working real hard. The weather has kind of been our enemy. We took an eight-day layoff between opening day and yesterday. I think we’ll be OK. We’ll see how they rebound after today.”

Yorkville (2-1) took the game’s first lead in the third, when Jacob Mathre was hit by a pitch and scored on a Luke Lucchetti sacrifice fly. But Oswego East (2-2) chased starter Alex King with a two-run fourth and a three-run fifth to turn the game around.

Cody Burton led the fourth off with a single for Oswego East and scored and Bobby Smith reached on an infield single and wound up scoring the second run of the frame on a double steal.

Yorkville tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the fifth when Chris Hill doubled in Lucchetti, but Oswego East got it right back for good in the bottom of the fifth. Smith was in the middle of it again, driving in a run with a double and later scoring.

“They just put the bat on the ball and made things happen,” Hill said. “I made an error (dropping a foul pop that kept the fourth inning alive), so that didn’t help.”

Meanwhile, Oswego East’s Matt Miller was efficient on the mound. He was far from dominant, striking out one and walking two while allowing two runs (one earned) on two hits, but was effective enough to earn a win in his first decision of the spring.

“He was changing our eye levels,” Hill said. “He would throw one high and then he’d drop a curveball or changeup low and keep us off-balance.”

Yorkville never really threatened late, thanks to Burton, who came on in relief of Miller. Burton retired all six batters he faced, including three strikeouts, to earn the save.

“We’re still pretty early in our season, so a lot of our pitchers are kind of still finding their stride,” Oswego East coach Jim Vera said. “I don’t know if we’re dominant, but we’re right around the plate and we trust our defense. In the losses we’ve had, when we don’t play defense, we don’t win.”