The Humboldt Cubs season got off to a rough start after falling to the Frontenac Raiders 12-1.
The Cubs held the Raiders scoreless through the first two frames but failed to respond once Frontenac found its footing in the third, fourth and fifth innings for the 12-1 mercy-rule victory.
“I was really pleased with the way our pitchers threw,” Humboldt coach Mike Miller said. “They did a really good job of attacking their lineup. [Frontenac] had a really good lineup, especially in the middle of it. They don’t miss the ball a lot. And when they hit the ball, they hit the ball hard.”
In the third inning, the Raiders broke the scoreless stalemate with four runs, then plated three runners in the fourth and five in the fifth for an early stoppage. Senior catcher Jacob Harrington drove in the Cubs’ only run on a sacrifice fly ball.
“We didn’t compete a whole lot. I thought we let them dictate our at-bats,” Miller said. “They got ahead early, and we put ourselves in a hole up there instead of going up and being aggressive. We’re swinging early, falling behind. We start guessing and it’s hard to hit that ball.”
Frontenac’s quartet of Raider pitchers combined to tally seven strikeouts and allowed one walk. Humboldt senior pitcher Logan Page registered the loss while striking out four batters, while senior Brody Gunderman and freshman Ty Shaughnessy tallied a pair of strikeouts each.
“It came down to making routine plays on defense,” Miller said. “When we didn’t, they took advantage of it. The pitching went well, but on defense we just didn’t make plays.”
The Cubs will have a while to marinate on their loss with their return to the diamond slated for next Monday on the road in Neodesha.
“It is what it is. [Frontenac] had the same amount of time to prepare that we did.
“They were just a little more prepared than us,” Miller said.
“We’ll be all right. We had the same result last year when we played them the first game of the season, and everything turned out alright last year too.
“It’s one of those games you learn from and move on.”
Fronenac 12, Humboldt 1
Frontenac AB R H RBI
Weimers 4 3 2 2
Capehart 4 3 2 1
Niegsch 3 2 2 3
Murphy 3 1 1 2
Wegner 4 1 2 2
James 3 0 0 0
Lillich 1 0 0 0
Hor 1 0 0 0
Maxwell 3 0 0 0
Sneed 3 1 1 0
Pitching IP H R ER BB SO
Niegsch 3 0 0 0 0 6
Lemert 1 0 1 0 1 1
Capehart 1 0 0 0 0 1
Humboldt AB R H RBI
G. Gunderson 2 0 0 0
Sterling 2 1 0 0
Page 1 0 0 0
B. Gunderson 1 0 0 0
Harrington 2 0 0 0
Shaughnessy 2 0 0 1
Hanson 2 0 0 0
Russell 2 0 0 0
Elder 2 0 0 0
Pitching IP H R ER BB SO
Page 2.2 3 4 2 1 4
B. Gunderman 1.2 7 7 6 2 2
Shaughnessy 0.2 1 1 1 2 2
