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(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Ayden McDougal starting at third base for the Steers in their matchup Thursday, April 17. McDougal has been a consistent defensive presence at third base. -
(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Colton Doyle behind the dish for the Steers in their matchup Thursday, April 17 against the Stephenville Yellow Jackets. Doyle split time in this game at both catcher and pitcher for the team. -
(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Dylan Cox makes contact with a ball into right Thursday, April 17 against the Stephenville Yellow Jackets. Cox was one of the few baserunning threats for the Steers in this matchup.
The Steers junior varsity baseball team couldn’t find the grass on offense against the Stephenville Yellow Jackets. This played a big factor in their eventual 10-0 loss.
“It felt like it was one of those games, we rip one and its right at the shortstop for a double play,” Head coach Bubba Brewster said. “I thought it was one of those games where everything we hit was right at them.”
Brewster also said that Stephenville’s pitching was good at forcing weak contact from Graham’s offense and the team needs to be a little more selective in the pitches they choose to swing at in order to generate harder contact.
Case Etling lead off the game on the mound for the Steers in the top of the first and started things off solidly. He was immediately in a high pressure situation with a runner at third but got out of it.
The Steers also had some scoring opportunities on the base paths, but like Brewster said, all of their solid contact hits went right to Stephenville defenders. They just couldn’t seem to get that big knock to fall when they needed it.
The wheels really started to come off in the second and third innings. The steers pitching staff, which played a bullpen style approach, had the chance to shut the door on potential scoring threats but couldn’t.
As a result, the Yellow Jackets capitalized to the tune of seven runs in those innings to lead to the eventual 10-0 loss. There was a bright spot though, Brewster said the energy from his team was better than it had been in past outings.
“We saw a lot of new faces today, we got a lot of new looks,” Brewster said. “I thought the energy was a little bit better today.”
Brewster also said that while he through the energy levels were higher, it’s tough to get yourself going in a game where your hitting the ball right on the screws but things just aren’t panning out how you want them to.
The lineup definitely did see some new faces though, Etling was a change of scenery for the pitching staff but also Tyson Louder was featured in the lineup as third baseman.
The Steers have two more chances to finish the regular season on a high note. They take on Glen Rose next week April 22 - 25 at 4:30 p.m.
