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A couple of miscues turned a one-run contest into a 5-1 loss for Creston baseball Monday night against Adel-DeSoto-Minburn.
Creston led 1-0 into the fifth inning when ADM put a couple runners on base with singles.
The Tigers followed by electing to hit and run to the right side of the infield.
After the Panthers got the force out at first base, the Tigers sent a runner home in which an errant throw allowed him to score.
ADM stayed aggressive on the base paths, sending the second runner around and another throw away brought him safely to the plate to push the Tigers in front 2-1.
“It was aggressive baserunning on their part. ... Hopefully we learn to be like that offensively. But also defensively, either don’t make a throw to the plate or make a good throw to the plate and it doesn’t cost you the extra run,” said Creston head coach Steve Birchard.
From there, the Tigers tacked on three more runs in the sixth inning after an RBI single off the bat of Jaxson Millsap and a Panther miscue in the outfield, which allowed a fly ball to drop and two more runs to score.
In the span of a few missed outs, Creston’s 1-0 lead had evaporated in favor of a 5-1 ADM edge.
Creston’s offense had chances throughout the contest, but mostly due to free bases from the Tigers.
The three ADM pitchers combined to allow just two Panther hits on the night.
Eli Loudon lined a two-out base hit into right-center field in the third inning to end up on second base. Evan Bruce took advantage of a dropped third strike as Loudon’s courtesy runner, Briley Hayes, came around on the passed ball for Creston’s only run.
In the fifth inning, an ADM error allowed Brayden Fitzgerald to reach base, but a strikeout ended the frame.
Creston put Bryce Fitzgerald and Luke Latham on in the sixth, but once again it was the punchout that closed the door.
“We still need to do a better job of getting a good look at 0-0,1-0, 2-0 kind of pitches,” said Birchard. “Our guys don’t set themselves up to have success. You take a fastball for a strike and then you’re at his (the pitcher’s) mercy.”
The Panthers didn’t go away as they took enough pitches to get two runners on in the seventh via walks.
Bruce lined a hard knock off of ADM pitcher Joe Finnegan, which kicked away from the Tiger hurler, but Finnegan stayed with the play and his throw beat Bruce to the bag ending the game in favor of the Tigers.
Looking ahead
Creston got a solid outing from Eli Loudon on the hill to start the game. Though Loudon allowed five hits, he worked his way out of each sticky situation.
In the second inning a pair of singles to leadoff the inning gave ADM a solid opportunity to put a run across the plate.
The Tigers sent their runner from second, hoping to draw a balk, but Loudon calmly tossed the ball over to third to catch the runner.
Two hard hit balls to Bryce Fitzgerald went down as the last two outs of the frame.
Loudon exited the contest after four innings of work and 45 pitches thrown in order to remain eligible for Creston’s opening round postseason contest Friday against ADM.
“He looked pretty good tonight. ... He scattered those five hits and his defense did a good job behind him,” said Birchard. “If he comes out and throws like that we will be right in the game Friday night.”
Birchard thinks Monday night against ADM and today’s matchup (Tuesday) with Abraham Lincoln will give the Panther batters a good look at some harder throwers, which they expect come Friday.
The loss Monday night ended the Panthers’ longest winning streak of the season at three games.
UP NEXT – Creston (10-21) will play host to Abraham Lincoln (11-25) today (Tuesday) for its regular season finale. Play is expected to begin around 7:30 p.m.
ADM 5, Creston 1
R H E
ADM 000 023 0 — 5 9 2
Cr 001 000 0 — 1 2 4
ADM: Logan Crannell 7K 0BB, Zach Fuller (4) 5K 1BB, Joe Finnegan (7) 2K 2BB and Jaxson Millsap. Cr: Eli Loudon 2K 0BB, Luke Latham (5) 0K 2BB, Evan Bruce (6) 0K 0BB and Gavin Gillam. W — Fuller (3-1). L – Latham (0-2). HR – None. 3B – None. 2B — Cr: Eli Loudon. RBI — ADM: Joe Finnegan, Jaxson Millsap. Cr: Evan Bruce. Multiple hits — None.