Columbus East freshman JD Rotert pitched well against Seymour on Thursday, but he didn’t have the run support at the plate.
The Olympians managed only one hit and thus came away with a 5-1 loss to the visiting Owls.
“We’ve got to swing it. We‘ve just got to swing it better,” East coach Jon Gratz said.
Rotert went five innings and gave up two unearned runs, one hit, four walks and four strikeouts in taking a tough loss.
“He’s done a really good job for us this year getting ahead of hitters and keeping them off balance,” Gratz said. “He threw five (innings) tonight, no earned runs and one hit. It’s what he’s done so far this year. He’s done a really nice job of keeping his composure out there for a freshman. You love to see that.”
Seymour scored first in the top of the third when Brady Harpe walked and stole second and third during Jack Pennington’s at-bat. After Pennington walked, he stole second; however, the throw to second was very high, and it allowed Harpe to score to make it 1-0.
The Owls added to the lead when Aaron Holt bunted for a single. He stole second and third, but then another throwing error by the Olympians let Holt score for a 2-0 lead.
East (1-5) got one run back when Jackson Watkins and Logan Warren walked to put runners on first and second. Seymour then was charged with a throwing error when trying to get a pickoff on a stolen base attempt that allowed Watkins to score to make it 2-1.
Bige Asher and A.J. Tindell came on in relief the final two innings for the Olympians. Seymour added another run in the top of the sixth, then iced the game on a double by Gavin Leavy that plated two additional runs in the seventh.
Blake Borkhardt had the only hit for East.
The Olympians will host Floyd Central on Saturday.
