Sport in world

Leathernecks drop 4-1 decision at Point Loma

May 28, 2008 on 8:50 pm | In Athletics |

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Despite collecting 10 hits, the Western Illinois baseball team lost 4-1 at Point Loma Nazarene Friday afternoon.

The first inning saw the Leathernecks (1-9) do damage with two outs. Kenny Price started the two-out rally with a single. Drew Laidig picked up a RBI-single for the second straight day with a ball into the right-center gap.

The Sea Lions (13-11) got a pair of singles in the bottom of the first, but Ben Percival (0-2) forced a lineout to short and then a fly ball to left to end the threat. Western ended its half of the second and third innings with outs on the base paths. Kyle Surprenant was thrown out at third trying to advance after a Dan Johnson single. Percival rolled through the order in the second inning, striking out all three batters. The third inning ended when Brett Pendell was doubled up at second on a fly ball to the outfield to end the third.

“Our base running mistakes turned the whole momentum of this game around,” said Western Illinois head coach Stan Hyman. “We are a veteran ball club and those kind of mistakes should not happen.”

Point Loma made the Leathernecks pay as Alex Cameron hit a leadoff home run to tie the game up in the third. Kahoi Downing followed up with a triple to the right field corner. Andy Reilly then got the third extra base hit of the inning when he hit a triple that got caught up in a swirling wind in right. A fielder’s choice allowed Reilly to score, making it 3-1.

The Leathernecks got a single runner on in the fourth and fifth inning but could produce anything out of it.

A one-out walk to Downing in the bottom of the fifth came back to hurt Percival as the Sea Lions were able to bring him around with a fielder’s choice and then a single.

Justin Eissens came on in relief in the eighth inning. The Thomson, Ill., native was able to work a perfect inning, with a pair of strike outs.

“Pitching again was again outstanding,” Hyman said. “Percival gave us every chance to win today. Eissens came in and threw great at the end.”

Cooper Stewart led off the ninth inning with a double for Western. He was left stranded there after a strike out and pair of ground outs to end the game.

“We are back to square one,” Hyman added. “I thought we had turn the corner these past three days by playing well against three very good ball clubs. Today we played against another good team but just shot ourselves in the foot. We had 15 base runners and score only one run in the first inning.”

For the fourth time this season, Western collected double digit hits in a game, but suffered a loss.

“We gave up 12 runs on this road trip to teams in California and we won one game,” Hyman said of the road trip. “Clearly our pitching is our strength and is getting it done. Our offense and base running is simply killing us. We have to find answers at this point and search for a lineup that can produce runs and not just hits. We need nine guys who are capable of playing a whole ball game from a mental aspect, not just a physical one.”

Western has a week off before heading to Purdue for a three-game weekend set starting March 22.
Originaly from Source