TREYNOR — Errors hampered Creston here Friday afternoon in a 7-3 loss to Treynor in non-conference play.
The Panther defense, which has been mostly steady this season, committed five errors in the loss.
That, combined with the offense stranding runners on base, proved to be a lethal combination for the Panthers.
“It’s two part. Five errors giving up five unearned runs and then we left runners,” Creston head coach Steve Birchard said. “Two times we had first and second with no outs and tried to move a runner and got thrown out at third. One was a baserunning snafu and the other, we got the bunt down and it went right back to the pitcher. We just didn’t execute our sacrifice bunts today.”
Treynor pushed across two runs in the first inning, but Creston eventually tied the game at 2-2 after scoring single runs in the fourth and fifth innings.
Conner Pals led off the fourth inning by getting hit by a pitch and Chase Shiltz singled. Jaden Driskell hit into a fielder’s choice, leaving runners on first and second. Shiltz then scored on a Kadon Hulett base hit.
Brody Frain led off the fifth inning by reaching on an error, before scoring on a Pals double.
But Treynor came back to score two more runs in the bottom half of the inning and adding three more in the sixth after Creston scored a single run in the top of the sixth on a Frain RBI base hit.
Brenden McDowell took the loss for the Panthers, giving up just one earned run on one hit with two walks and one hit batsman. Frain pitched two innings of relief, giving up one earned run on three hits with one strikeout.
“It was unfortunate that Brenden and Brody did a good enough job to get us a win, and defensively, we’ve been playing pretty solid defense. Today our defense let us down,” Birchard said. “It happens. We’re going to come back and battle next time.”
The Panthers, now 11-11 overall and 10-7 in the Hawkeye 10 Conference, return to action today at Red Oak in a rescheduled game. Creston then travels to Winterset on Tuesday, before traveling to Lewis Central for a varsity doubleheader on Thursday.
Junior varsity
Creston lost the junior varsity game to Treynor on Friday, 14-3.
Garrett Dahl finished with two singles and an RBI for the Panthers. Deaven Reese doubled and drove in two runs. Kendall Crawford hit a single.
Crawford also pitched all three innings for the Panthers, giving up eight earned runs on 11 hits with five walks and no strikeouts.
Treynor 7, Creston 3
R H E
Creston 000 111 0 — 3 7 5
Treynor 200 023 x — 7 4 1
Cr: Brenden McDowell 0K 2BB 1HBP, Brody Frain (5) 1K 0BB and Jaden Driskell. T: Brett Daley 2K 2BB and Dean Beddell. W — Daley. L— McDowell. HR — none. 3B — none. 2B — Cr: Conner Pals 1. RBI — Cr: Kadon Hulett 1, Brody Frain 1, Pals 1. Multiple hitters — Cr: Chase Shiltz 2, Hulett 2.