The California Pintos baseball team (17-4) lost to the Southern Boone Eagles (18-1) on April 27, with the 13-2 defeat snapping the Pintos’ five-game win streak.
This was the first game the Pintos have lost by double digit runs this season. Pintos head coach Steven Stock said the team learned it has to play well when facing off against good teams.
“We can learn that when you play a very good team, we have to play very well in order to compete with them,” Stock said.
The score was much closer than the final score for a majority of the game. Southern Boone took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but the Pintos tied the game soon after during the bottom of the second inning. Trevor Myers got on base with a walk and later in the inning was able to advance to third base. Ethan Bloch drove him in with a sacrifice fly to left field to tie the game at 1.
Southern Boone took its early lead back in the top of the third inning. With one out in the inning, Ian Peterson struck out the Eagles’ batter but the ball was dropped and the batter was able to reach first base safely as he beat the throw. During the next at-bat, the Eagles used a hit and run to score and retake the lead at 2-1. Later in the inning, the Eagles scored one more run on a ground out to make it 3-1.
California answered right back in the bottom of the third inning, as Gavin Porter got on base thanks to a walk and, with two outs in the inning, Lucas Ash reached base after being hit by a pitch. Myers forced a walk to load the bases, and the Pintos scored after Bloch forced another walk to make it 3-2.
Stock said it helps the team to focus when the Pintos are able to quickly answer back.
“It keeps our team focused and keeps the momentum on our side,” Stock said.
The score remained locked at 3-2 until the top of the fifth inning, when Southern Boone began to widen the gap. The Eagles scored four runs in the inning to make it 7-2. They pulled away even further in the top of the seventh inning, scoring another six runs to give the game its final score of 13-2.
Stock said Southern Boone’s two big innings were the result of the Eagles getting hits and a couple of errors by California.
“We allowed a couple hits and combined with a couple errors,” Stock said. “It resulted in (Southern Boone) scoring multiple runs and putting the game away.”
The Pintos scored their two runs on one hit and had one error in the game, while Southern Boone scored 13 runs on 10 hits and had two errors in the game. Ian Peterson pitched 4.1 innings and struck out six batters in the game, and Kaden Bax struck out two batters during his time on the mound for California.
The Pintos’ will look to regroup and keep their otherwise successful season going at 5 p.m. May 6 at Knob Noster.