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One bad inning cost the Queen Creek baseball team a victory under the lights at Red Mountain on Tuesday night.
The Mountain Lions started their half of the third inning with back-to-back singles before Bulldogs’ ace Jesse Schmit was able in induce a ground ball that could’ve resulted in a double-play. Instead, the Bulldogs committed an error, failed to get even one out, and the Lions took advantage.
Schmit hit two Red Mountain batters after the error, and before the inning was over the Lions had scored three runs, which was enough to deal the Bulldogs only their second loss of the season, 3 – 1.
“One bad ground ball and that was it,” Queen Creek head coach Drew Ramirez said after the game. “Routine ground balls (shouldn’t) beat us, but that’s what beat us (Tuesday night).”
Schmit, South Mountain CC commit, was otherwise dominant throughout. The three runs allowed were all unearned and he surrendered only four hits in the complete-game outing.
“Jesse gave us everything he could to win,” Bulldogs’ senior OF Austin Nichols said. “He should’ve come out of there without allowing any runs, but little defensive errors (were the difference). We just didn’t have the grit to win today, they did.”
Bulldogs’ senior RHP Jesse Schmit did not allow an earned run against Red Mountain on Tuesday night.
Ramirez had equal praise for his ace.
“Jesse did an excellent job,” the Bulldogs’ first-year head coach said. “He did exactly what we wanted him to do – keep them off balance – and he didn’t allow any earned runs. He did his job, he battled, and that’s why he’s going to the next level. With him out there, we always have a chance.”
The Bulldogs were able to break through in their half of the fourth after Colton Cassinelli started with a walk and Kole Kaler followed with a double. The next hitter, Colby Kobernick, hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Cassinelli, but Kaler was thrown out after attempting to tag up and getting caught in a rundown.
That base-running blunder was one of a couple in the game that didn’t help Queen Creek’s cause.
The Bulldogs had a golden opportunity to have a big inning in the top of the sixth after back-to-back singles with only one out. A failed steal attempt followed for the second out of the inning before a walk and hit batter loaded the bases for Kaler, who appeared to be safe on an infield hit but was called out on a bang-bang play at first base.
Ramirez acknowledged the base-running errors but accepted them, calling his team “aggressive” and knowing “(mistakes are) going to happen.” He immediately argued the call on Kaler, saying after the game he didn’t think it was even close.
One of his players didn’t believe the game’s result was based solely on that play.
“That’s baseball,” Nichols said matter-of-factly. “You see those calls every game. We should never have had ourselves in a position to be behind. Jesse gave us an opportunity to win, we couldn’t score runs early, and we should’ve never had to rely on (that call).”
Upcoming schedule: Mar. 11 vs. Skyline (2 p.m.). The following is the schedule for the First Annual Bob Everett Classic: Mar. 12 vs. Marcos de Niza at Campo Verde (3:30 p.m.), Mar. 14 vs. Bartles at Highland (1 p.m.), Mar. 16 vs. Westwood at Highland (10:30 a.m.), and Mar. 16 vs. Gilbert at Highland (1 p.m.).
Andrew Luberda began writing for Copper Area News Publishers (CANP) in February 2013 after working 15 years in Healthcare Financial Management. Andy covers sports for 11 high schools. His stories are published in Copper Basin News, San Manuel Miner and Superior Sun, in addition to the San Tan Valley Daily PRSS and CopperArea websites. Additionally, he has written human interest stories and business profiles. In May 2012, he earned an AAS in Sports Management at Central Arizona College before graduating with a BS in Communication from Arizona State University in 2014. He and his wife, Kelli, have three sons – AJ, Kyle, and Kade.
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