Rival Tops Rosetown A’s 5-2

Two years ago, a few Rosetown A’s baseball players left the club to help form a new club, the Saint Paul Capitals, in the Saint Paul League.

“There were players that had their differences or wanted more playing time,” A’s first baseman Josh Fluery said regarding the departure. “It’s like a Yankess-Red Sox rivalry.”

Fluery, a fourth-year player for the A’s, and company met the league-leading Capitals for the second time this season on Friday. The A’s gave the Capitals, 11-0 in league play, a competitive game in a 5-2 loss at Dunning Stadium in Saint Paul.

“We want to beat those guys,” A’s player-assistant coach Scott Phiffer said. “We played better than we have in previous games. We had a few more hits.”

The A’s had entered the game with two runs in their last three games, but they kept pace with the Capitals early. The A’s trailed 2-1 after the first three innings.

But fielding mistakes by the A’s led to another pair of runs by the Capitals for a 4-1 lead in the fourth. Zach Wiesner answered back for the A’s with a home run in the fifth inning to cut the lead to 4-2.

“I wasn’t seeing the ball well in the beginning,” Wiesner said. “Then, I saw what we had and took a swing at it.”

The A’s surrendered another run in the seventh inning due to fielding trouble, but they threatened in the bottom of the inning with a double. The Capitals stymied any semblance of an A’s rally at that point and held on for the 5-2 win.

“We could have rolled over and quit, but we stuck in the game,” Fleury said.

The A’s fell 10-5 to the Capitals in their first meeting on June 28. In addition, the A’s had not won a game since their 7-5 win over Commanding Eagle on June 20.

“We made more plays tonight,” Wiesner said. “Our pitcher was throwing more strikes, and we only had two or three errors whereas we five or more in the past few games.”

The A’s started the season strong with a 4-2 mark in their first six outings prior to their current seven-game losing streak. With second half of the season ahead, A’s players still hope to make a run for the playoffs.

“We started 0-9 last year, so we’re not hanging our heads,” Wiesner said. “We’re starting to get better. We need to get on a win streak before the playoffs.”

The A’s will play Highland Park next on Sunday at noon. Highland Park has lost four of its last five games through July 6, and the A’s beat them 5-4 in their first meeting on June 12.