Onalaska baseball (0-1) was on the road Tuesday at Lumberton (5-0) and led early, but couldn’t overcome mistakes, taking a 12-3 loss to the Raiders, 12-3.
Wildcat leadoff batter Conner Ruiz went to work early, hitting a line-drive single to left field on the second pitch of the game. Then after stealing second base and moving to third on a sacrifice, Ruiz scored on an error by Lumberton’s left fielder, putting the Wildcats up 1-0 in the top of the first.
The Raiders bounced back in the bottom of the inning, going ahead 2-1 after scoring on an RBI-single to center and a wild pitch.
Jarrett Purkerson started the second inning with a hit for the Wildcats. Then after two walks to load the bases, Onalaska’s catcher, Thad Lilley, came up clutch. With an 0-2 count, Lilley slapped a liner to right field, scoring two runs and putting the Wildcats back on top 3-2.
In the bottom half of the inning, Lumberton took advantage of a couple of errors by Onalaska to tie the game 3-3 with a bases-loaded RBI.
Things fell apart for the Wildcats in the bottom of the fourth inning, letting the Raiders score five runs on two doubles, two singles, and three walks.
Onalaska tried to get back in the game in the fifth, but couldn’t score with the bases loaded. Lumberton added two more runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth beating the Wildcats 12-3.
Wildcat pitchers struggled finding the umpire’s strike zone, allowing eight earned runs on 10 hits, eight walks, and three strikeouts over six innings. Their defense didn’t make things any easier for the pitchers with four errors.
Ruiz went 1-for-3 with a walk and scored a run, Lilley had a double and two RBIs, Purkerson was 1-for-2 with two walks and scored a run. Carson Davies walked twice and scored a run.
The Wildcats’ next game is in the Cleveland Rotary tournament Thursday night at 6 p.m. against the Shepherd Pirates.
