Miscues haunt Indians in season-opening loss to Calhoun
Adam Gore/LetsGoICC.com
DECATUR, AL – It wasn't the start to the 2013 season that Itawamba Community College head coach Rick Collier was looking for as the Indians dropped a 2-1 Game 1 decision to Calhoun Community College on Saturday.
"You could tell one team had played six games and the other was playing their first game of the season," said Collier. "That's still not an excuse. You have to be ready to go from the start and we just didn't make the outs or get the hits when we needed them."
Calhoun (4-3) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning when Brett Guzay reached on a fielder's choice, advanced to second on a single by Trey Nelson and scored on a two-out single by Patrick Mullin.
The War Hawks took advantage of a throwing error and wild pitch in the bottom of the fourth to take a 2-0 lead over the Indians when JT Watkins was hit by a pitch and eventually scored from third on a two-out single by Green.
"We weren't able to get out of the innings when we had our chances," said Collier. "You can't give up two-out runs and expect to win ballgames and that was the difference in the game."
ICC had scoring opportunities erased by a pair of great defensive plays by Guzay when he made a diving-catch across his body up the middle to turn an unassisted double play with a runner on third to end the fifth and made a diving stop up the middle and flipped the ball out of his glove to end the sixth inning with a runner on third.
"(Guzay) looked good at short today," said Collier. "He made three or four plays that all you could do was tip your cap for making some impressive plays."
The Indians (0-1, 0-0 MACJC North) sparked a rally in the top of the seventh after back-to-back walks issued to Brent Younger (Columbus) and Drew Wheeler (Mooreville) by relief pitcher Jacob Newton.
Yonger and Wheeler advanced to second and third on a sacrifice bunt by pinch hitter Anthony Mallard (Verona) before Younger scored on a ground out by Jake Smith (Columbus) to make it a one-run game with Wheeler on third.
Newton celebrated the save after striking out Tyler Tipton (Shelbyville, KY), but the celebration was short lived after the catcher dropped the ball and threw out the Indians' speedy shortstop by half a step to seal the victory.
Josh Nance threw five innings of scoreless baseball while giving up two hits, issuing two walks and striking out four of the 18 Indian batters he face to pick up the win.
Ben Hudspeth (Tupelo) went the distance giving up two runs, one earned, on five with two walks and one hit batter while striking out three of the 25 batters faced in the sophomore's first collegiate loss.
"Ben struggled with his location early, but was able to stay focused to get out of a couple of jams," said Collier. "Give Calhoun credit, they are a good baseball team and made us pay for our errors and came up with the hits when they needed them."
Wheeler, Youger and Brayden Owen (Tupelo) each had singles in the game with Yonger scoring a run and Smith with the Indians' lone RBI in the loss.
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