For the first time this season, the Marion Bobcats lost two consecutive games dropping a 9-3 decision to Fulton Thursday night at Gordon Blue Guess Field.
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| Kyle Vander Ark greets Joey Xavier after crossing the plate in a 9-3 loss to Fulton. |
An error followed, allowing Landon Weitekamp to reach and another run crossed the plate for a 2-0 advantage.
But Bobcat starting hurler Garret Hunt fell behind hitters most of the night and did not get much defensive support behind him as the hosts committed five errors in the contest. They committed two miscues each in the second and fourth innings and the Railroaders took a 5-2 lead that they never relinquished.
Through five innings of work, the Rend Lake College hurler allowed seven hits, walked four batters and surrendered five earned runs.
Conversely, Railroader starting hurler Mike Canaly was sharp most of the night only allowed five hits and three runs and got great defensive help behind him.
Fulton catcher Connor Tracy and first baseman Kahtan Al-Kaissy each had perfect 3-for-3 days at the dish accounting for six of their team's 10 hits. Al-Kaissy also had three RBIs while scoring three runs. Meanwhile, Tracy was on base all four times he stepped to the plate, drawing a walk while also scoring a run.
"Yesterday's loss and tonight's loss were a lot the same," Bobcat skipper Kyle Medley said after the lackluster performance.
While not using the five-day layoff—which consisted of three rainouts—as an excuse, Medley described the stoppage in play as frustrating since his team was rolling along after 13 games.
He lamented the 10 walks surrendered by four Bobcat pitchers and knows they must make the opposition put the ball in play.
While he says he hasn't used the fact that his team has not dropped a series yet this season as a motivating factor, that is exactly what they will try avoid doing when they travel to Fulton tonight for the final game of the two-game set.
"My goal is to win every game," he said.
While the Bobcats (9-5, 10-5 overall) are still in first place, things are beginning to tighten up with Thursday's outcome. Despite not losing ground to second-place Owensboro, who lost to Tradewater 8-5, the Railroaders climbed to within 3.5 games of Marion in spite of owning a 6-9 worksheet.
New shortstop joins team
Shortstop Matthew Fears joined the Bobcats this week from Middle Georgia University. While playing hard in his first game with his new team Thursday, Fears left the game in the late innings due to an injury suffered in the field.
However, the Bobcat coach does not believe it will keep him out for an extended period of time.
"We're starting to get banged up. That's a concern," he said.
