Hits Don't Fall For Knights, Suffer First Lost Of The Season

Rustin's bats show up, but hits don't fall, ending eight game winning streak.

In baseball, sometimes there are just those days when teams hit the ball hard, but the baseball just cant find open field. On Monday, it was just one of those days for the Rustin Golden Knights baseball squad.

After defeating Unionville on Friday afternoon to move to 8-0 on the season, Rustin returned home on Monday to face Downingtown East, and wound up suffering there first loss of the season, dropping the game, 4-3.

Luke Koehloff went six strong innings for Downingtown East, silencing Rustin's bats to a certain extent giving up only three earned runs on the afternoon. 

Jack Fritz got the ball for Rustin and was almost equally as good as Koehloff. Fritz took his start into the seventh inning going 6 1/3 innings giving up four runs, just five hits, while striking out six. 

It was a pitching duel in which Rustin didn't necessarily struggle with the bats. The Knights hit the ball hard throughout the game, but balls just weren't finding the holes.

Did Downingtown East come away with a lucky win, or was it just one of those days in baseball where things don't tend to fall in place for the opposing team? I'll let you be the judge of that.

Rustin took the lead in the bottom of the first inning when second basemen Joe Palladino led of the frame with a single. It marked the fourth straight game in which Palladino has led off the game with a base knock. Center fielder Nick Miller then sacrificed Palladino over to second, and third basemen Kevin Jewitt knocked him in to put a run on the board and add an RBI to the third basemen's stat sheet.

The Knights got their second run with Palladino again leading the assault by lacing a double. That was followed by another sacrifice bunt by Miller moving Palladino to third base. Miller reached base on a defensive interference call and Kevin Jewitt was brought home on an Alec O'dell sacrifice fly.

Small ball is an effective way to win tight ballgames. Sounds just like what the Philadelphia Phillies offensive approach has been thus far this season, with Chase Utley and Ryan Howard missing from the lineup, eh?

After a questionable call at first base, Downingtown East answered the bell and scored three runs of their own in the top half of the third inning to tie it at three-all.

The ballgame remain unchanged until the top of the fifth inning when Downingtown East took a page out of Rustin's offensive approach and knocked in their fourth, and eventual game winning run on a sacrifice fly of their own.

Rustin now sits at 8-1 on the season, and lead the Ches-Mont League with eleven games left in the regular season. 

Rustin is back on the road tomorrow afternoon when they travel to Octorara to take on the Braves.

Chase Senior can be reached at Chase.Senior3@gmail.com