Whitko Lets Wabash Off The Hook
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
SOUTH WHITLEY - This is another story about the big one that got away.
After reeling in a big win one day earlier against a good Homestead team, the Wildcats had Wabash on the hook, but the Apaches got away late, rallying from a 6-2 deficit by scoring 10 runs in the final three innings to get past Whitko 12-7 Thursday.
"We couldn't stay focused for the game, and that cost us," Whitko coach Randy Hart said. "It is a tough loss."
Whitko was looking for its second straight upset after beating a Homestead team Wednesday that had seen its only two previous losses of the year coming to a nationally-ranked Marion team.
Down 6-2, Wabash scored three times in the fifth to close the gap to 6-5 and three more times in the sixth after Whitko added another run to take an 8-7 lead. The big blow came when the Apaches got four runs in the seventh to put the game out of reach.
"Errors in key situations have plagued us all year," Hart said. "I told the kids that it is up to them how we recover from this rough loss. And we have a tough schedule coming up. We have to put the baggage away and come back and go.
"We started out great," he said. "We hit the ball well tonight. Our defense and some mental mistakes cost us. I think we let some frustration set in. We started worrying about the stakes being raised."
Whitko scored four times in the opening frame, led by two-run singles by Jeff Martin and Bret McPeak. Wabash cut the margin to 4-2 with single runs in the second and fourth innings, but Whitko scored two more times in the fourth inning, this time a two-run single by Dustin Patrick the big blow.
Whitko scored its seventh run in the fifth inning when Wabash trimmed the lead to 6-5, Martin walked, got to third on two errors and scored on McPeak's second hit of the day.
On the mound, Patrick held the Apaches to just the two runs through four innings before he basically just ran out of gas.
"Dustin struggled a little bit tonight, and he threw a lot of pitches," Hart said. "He was just flat-out tired. He stayed on top of it for awhile. He hung in there for six innings."
On offense, the Wildcats SOUTH WHITLEY - This is another story about the big one that got away.
After reeling in a big win one day earlier against a good Homestead team, the Wildcats had Wabash on the hook, but the Apaches got away late, rallying from a 6-2 deficit by scoring 10 runs in the final three innings to get past Whitko 12-7 Thursday.
"We couldn't stay focused for the game, and that cost us," Whitko coach Randy Hart said. "It is a tough loss."
Whitko was looking for its second straight upset after beating a Homestead team Wednesday that had seen its only two previous losses of the year coming to a nationally-ranked Marion team.
Down 6-2, Wabash scored three times in the fifth to close the gap to 6-5 and three more times in the sixth after Whitko added another run to take an 8-7 lead. The big blow came when the Apaches got four runs in the seventh to put the game out of reach.
"Errors in key situations have plagued us all year," Hart said. "I told the kids that it is up to them how we recover from this rough loss. And we have a tough schedule coming up. We have to put the baggage away and come back and go.
"We started out great," he said. "We hit the ball well tonight. Our defense and some mental mistakes cost us. I think we let some frustration set in. We started worrying about the stakes being raised."
Whitko scored four times in the opening frame, led by two-run singles by Jeff Martin and Bret McPeak. Wabash cut the margin to 4-2 with single runs in the second and fourth innings, but Whitko scored two more times in the fourth inning, this time a two-run single by Dustin Patrick the big blow.
Whitko scored its seventh run in the fifth inning when Wabash trimmed the lead to 6-5, Martin walked, got to third on two errors and scored on McPeak's second hit of the day.
On the mound, Patrick held the Apaches to just the two runs through four innings before he basically just ran out of gas.
"Dustin struggled a little bit tonight, and he threw a lot of pitches," Hart said. "He was just flat-out tired. He stayed on top of it for awhile. He hung in there for six innings."
On offense, the Wildcats were out by the Apaches 11-6 as well as striking out 12 times against two Wabash pitchers, including seven times watching a called third strike.
"There were a couple of situations there where we have runners in scoring position and we are watching strike three," Hart said. "We have to be more aggressive, especially with two strikes. There were some situations that hurt us that I thought we could bust it open and get the advantage more on our side. They recovered from some early errors, and we didn't recover from late errors."
Whitko (2-4) hosts Elmhurst Monday. Wabash is now 4-5. [[In-content Ad]]
Latest News
E-Editions
SOUTH WHITLEY - This is another story about the big one that got away.
After reeling in a big win one day earlier against a good Homestead team, the Wildcats had Wabash on the hook, but the Apaches got away late, rallying from a 6-2 deficit by scoring 10 runs in the final three innings to get past Whitko 12-7 Thursday.
"We couldn't stay focused for the game, and that cost us," Whitko coach Randy Hart said. "It is a tough loss."
Whitko was looking for its second straight upset after beating a Homestead team Wednesday that had seen its only two previous losses of the year coming to a nationally-ranked Marion team.
Down 6-2, Wabash scored three times in the fifth to close the gap to 6-5 and three more times in the sixth after Whitko added another run to take an 8-7 lead. The big blow came when the Apaches got four runs in the seventh to put the game out of reach.
"Errors in key situations have plagued us all year," Hart said. "I told the kids that it is up to them how we recover from this rough loss. And we have a tough schedule coming up. We have to put the baggage away and come back and go.
"We started out great," he said. "We hit the ball well tonight. Our defense and some mental mistakes cost us. I think we let some frustration set in. We started worrying about the stakes being raised."
Whitko scored four times in the opening frame, led by two-run singles by Jeff Martin and Bret McPeak. Wabash cut the margin to 4-2 with single runs in the second and fourth innings, but Whitko scored two more times in the fourth inning, this time a two-run single by Dustin Patrick the big blow.
Whitko scored its seventh run in the fifth inning when Wabash trimmed the lead to 6-5, Martin walked, got to third on two errors and scored on McPeak's second hit of the day.
On the mound, Patrick held the Apaches to just the two runs through four innings before he basically just ran out of gas.
"Dustin struggled a little bit tonight, and he threw a lot of pitches," Hart said. "He was just flat-out tired. He stayed on top of it for awhile. He hung in there for six innings."
On offense, the Wildcats SOUTH WHITLEY - This is another story about the big one that got away.
After reeling in a big win one day earlier against a good Homestead team, the Wildcats had Wabash on the hook, but the Apaches got away late, rallying from a 6-2 deficit by scoring 10 runs in the final three innings to get past Whitko 12-7 Thursday.
"We couldn't stay focused for the game, and that cost us," Whitko coach Randy Hart said. "It is a tough loss."
Whitko was looking for its second straight upset after beating a Homestead team Wednesday that had seen its only two previous losses of the year coming to a nationally-ranked Marion team.
Down 6-2, Wabash scored three times in the fifth to close the gap to 6-5 and three more times in the sixth after Whitko added another run to take an 8-7 lead. The big blow came when the Apaches got four runs in the seventh to put the game out of reach.
"Errors in key situations have plagued us all year," Hart said. "I told the kids that it is up to them how we recover from this rough loss. And we have a tough schedule coming up. We have to put the baggage away and come back and go.
"We started out great," he said. "We hit the ball well tonight. Our defense and some mental mistakes cost us. I think we let some frustration set in. We started worrying about the stakes being raised."
Whitko scored four times in the opening frame, led by two-run singles by Jeff Martin and Bret McPeak. Wabash cut the margin to 4-2 with single runs in the second and fourth innings, but Whitko scored two more times in the fourth inning, this time a two-run single by Dustin Patrick the big blow.
Whitko scored its seventh run in the fifth inning when Wabash trimmed the lead to 6-5, Martin walked, got to third on two errors and scored on McPeak's second hit of the day.
On the mound, Patrick held the Apaches to just the two runs through four innings before he basically just ran out of gas.
"Dustin struggled a little bit tonight, and he threw a lot of pitches," Hart said. "He was just flat-out tired. He stayed on top of it for awhile. He hung in there for six innings."
On offense, the Wildcats were out by the Apaches 11-6 as well as striking out 12 times against two Wabash pitchers, including seven times watching a called third strike.
"There were a couple of situations there where we have runners in scoring position and we are watching strike three," Hart said. "We have to be more aggressive, especially with two strikes. There were some situations that hurt us that I thought we could bust it open and get the advantage more on our side. They recovered from some early errors, and we didn't recover from late errors."
Whitko (2-4) hosts Elmhurst Monday. Wabash is now 4-5. [[In-content Ad]]