CHARLESTOWN — Columbus East took advantage of Charlestown’s two quick errors to go ahead 3-0 in the first inning.
One bad inning, however, would be the Olympians’ downfall. They gave up five runs in the third and suffered a 6-5 loss.
Despite the loss, East coach Jon Gratz was pleased with what he saw from his team from the opening pitch all the way to the final out.
“I was pleased with how we stayed up the whole game and we never lost our focus,” Gratz said. “We are starting to do a lot of things right. I think we are getting ready to peak at the right time. It has not turned into wins in the win column yet, but I feel good about what we are going to do soon.”
The Olympians (9-7) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first when Nick Andrie and Will Anderson reached on consecutive errors. Connor Roberts came through in a big spot to blast a three-run homer over the right field fence and making the Pirates pay for the mistakes.
“I liked what I saw in the first,” Gratz said. “We were hitting the ball really hard. Their mistakes got us a couple of our guys on base, and Connor came through for us and took advantage.”
East sophomore Kevin Thompson, who had been solid early on, found himself in a bit of a jam in the third. After Charlestown led off with a double and then a single, Ryan Jones matched Roberts with a three-run blast over the center field fence to tie the game at 3-3.
The rally did not stop. After the Pirates’ home run, they got a single and then drew a walk. One of those runs would score on a passed ball. Another single plated another run to put Charlestown ahead 5-3.
“At the time, I thought it was still too early for us to burn someone,” Gratz said. “I wanted to see how (Thompson) can handle the situation. Kevin has pitched well for us in JV, and he deserved a shot for us tonight and he pitched very well tonight.”
East tied it with two runs in the sixth. Andrie led off with a single and was replaced by pinch-runner Noah Wichman. Will Anderson walked, and Kyle Weiss was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Brock Greiwe drove in Wichman and Anderson.
However, the Pirates stormed back in the bottom of the sixth to score the game-winning run when Dewey Cardwell doubled and scored off of a triple by Justin Farris.
