Defense was the name of the game for the Marion baseball team this week. Unfortunately, it was poor defense that gave away the Warriors? doubleheader with Little River April 3.
?Our defense let us down, and when you give a team of that caliber as many opportunities as we did, you don?t deserve to win the ball game,? coach Roger Schroeder said. ?We are a good team and we?ll get this thing back on track, but we can?t give teams, especially quality teams, extra outs to play with.?
Of the 14 runs Marion allowed the Redskins Tuesday, only five were earned.
In Game 1, not even a six-run fourth inning could save Marion from suffering a one-run defeat at the hands of the Redskins, 9-8.
Grif Case started on the mound for Marion, pitching five innings and allowing 10 hits and eight runs while striking out four.
Austin Pederson, who came in to pitch 12?3 innings, took the loss. He allowed one run on no hits.
Marion?s Dylan Seacat, Caleb Williams, David Helmer and Ethan Hett lead the offense with each driving in two runs. Williams scored two runs and Helmer and Taylor Heidebrecht one each.
?We pitched and hit well enough to win this game,? Schroeder said. ?It wasn?t a lack of effort on our end; it was simply a lack of execution. We kicked a number of routine plays today, and that is not like us.
?We battled to the end and I was proud of our effort, but our execution must improve as we move forward.?
Little River edged Marion in Game 2, 5-4, overcoming the Warriors? early three-run lead with five runs over the fourth and fifth innings.
Pitcher Ethan Hett took the loss, allowing six hits and five runs while striking out six.
?Ethan threw the ball very well and we didn?t make plays behind him,? Schroeder said. ?I thought we pitched well enough and hit well enough to win this game, but our defense let us down.?
The Warriors committed three errors in the fourth inning that contributed to four of Little River?s runs and switched the momentum to its favor.
Dylan Seacat and Cole Lewman each drove in two runs for the Warriors. Seacat scored a run and Taylor Heidebrecht went 3-for-3 and scored twice.
?Our effort was good and we battled until the last out and gave ourselves a chance to extend the game,? Schroeder said.
?But in the end we fell short, and we can only blame ourselves for that.?
Coming?Marion (4-2) was scheduled to host Canton-Galva April 10 before playing at Sedgwick Friday.
