Cougar Mistakes Prove
Costly In Loss To Effingham
The defensive prowess of the Cougars is usually one of the main ingredients when they are successful, but
that wasn't the case Wednesday afternoon when they fell to the Effingham Flaming Hearts by a score of 9-5.
Although the Hearts banged out thirteen hits, it was the Cougar defense, or lack thereof, that set the tone
for the day.
After jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first on a two-run double off the bat of Zac Cain, the Cougars proceeded
to boot the ball around on the infield to the tune of five fielding errors in the next two innings and quickly found themselves
down 4-2 after three innings.
The Hearts then tacked on two more in the fourth on a pair of solo home runs before the Cougars had a rally
cut short in the fifth.
Tanner Bushue doubled in Jayme Michel who had singled to lead off the inning, but when Bushue got a late jump
from second on a two-out single by Nick Simmons, he was gunned down on a bang-bang play at the plate.
The Hearts urupted for three more runs in the sixth on a double, a walk, and three consecutive singles to
increase their lead to 9-3 and chase Cougar starter Nick Simmons.
But the Couars didn't give up. They fired back with two more runs in their last at-bat on singles by Michel
and Bushue and a long two-run double by Simmons, but that's all they would get before Effingham's second pitcher of the day
finally closed things out.
Simmons (3-1) was saddled with his first loss of the year as he gave up all nine runs (six earned) on twelve
hits, two walks, and four strikeouts.
The Cougars drop to 14-5 on the season and return to action on Friday when they play in the Centralia Invitational
Tournament against Nashville at 6:00 PM.
