Cornhuskers served up more losses

July 2, 2013 · 0 Comments

Eric Jones delivers some heat from the mound in Saturday’s loss to the Aurora Blue Jays.

By Jeff Doner

The Nobleton Cornhuskers winless skid was stretched to seven games after being served losses by the Creemore Braves, Barrie Angels and Aurora Jays last week. But it wasn’t all bad for the struggling club.
With the pitching and hitting starting to gather steam in recent games, the Cornhuskers have mostly been the victims of poor starts.
Steve Scobie said in order to get back into the win column the Cornhuskers have to make those slow starts a thing of the past.
“Well, we’re going to have to start off with a lead,” he said. “Every game we’re having to come up from behind and that’s no way to win games. We have to start off early and play like we do in the second half of the game, the whole game.”
Starting with a road visit to Creemore on Tuesday, the Cornhuskers took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first. However, Creemore responded right away with three runs of their own.
Nobleton was able to keep things relatively close until the Braves added three more runs in the fourth inning to take a commanding 6-1 lead.
After being held run less apart from the first inning, the Cornhuskers pulled up their socks and tried to start a rally in the sixth scoring three runs. They added another in the seventh to pull within one, but fell just short of making a comeback in a 6-5 loss.
Scobie led the offence for the Cornhuskers again with two huts and walk. Pitcher Eric Jones took the loss for Nobleton, but pitched a strong game as usual, throwing a complete game with five strikeouts.
Glen Patterson hit a home run for Creemore and starter Matt Baldry got the win, pitching five and two thirds innings with four strikeouts.

Barrie Angels

Heading back home to the Nobleton Sports Park, the Cornhuskers hosted the Barrie Angels on Thursday night.
Steve Scobie, who has been a strong all-around player for Nobleton, got the start against a struggling Barrie team, but was roughed up early in the game.
Barrie scored early and often to take the Cornhuskers out of the game, scoring eight runs in the top of the first.
Cornhusker Eric McLoughlin got his team on the board in the bottom of the first with his second home run of the season against Barrie pitcher Andrew Cook. Scobie then drove in Jonathan Harris to put the game at 8-2.
Barrie restored their eight-run lead right away with two runs in the second.
Feeling the pressure, pitcher Eric Jones was put in for the third and kept the Barrie offence at bay until Scott Traverse took over on the mound in the fifth.
Traverse was then tagged for two more runs, giving Barrie a commanding 12-2 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth the Cornhuskers put on a little pressure, creating a bases loaded situation. The hot hitting McLoughlin drove in Mike Winters with one out. Nobleton scored another run on a wild throw and then Jones advanced from third on a balk by the Barrie pitcher making it 12-6 to end the inning.
With their lead cut in half, Barrie once again responded with two more runs to make the final score 14-6.

Aurora Jays

One of the top teams in the league, the Cornhuskers knew that Aurora would be a tough team to overcome, but were still confident in their chances.
The hard throwing Jones got the start for Nobleton once again, while Aurora countered with veteran Ian Rettie, who had just come off the disabled list after nursing a broken bone in his wrist.
The Jays were the first to get on the board with two runs in the second, but Jones limited the damage with a strikeout to end the inning.
Aurora added another in top of third, but the Cornhuskers’ bats start to wake up in the bottom half of the inning, loading the bases with one out.
Down 3-1 and with two out, Scobie hit a double to make it 3-2, but that’s all the Cornhuskers could manage, leaving two men stranded to end the inning.
Ted Beadle, a hard hitting outfielder for the Jays, hit his fourth home run of the season and second of the week to make it 5-2 Jays in the top of the fourth.
As per usual, the Cornhuskers tried to get back into things late in the game, with Glenn Robinson starting off bottom of sixth with a walk and steal, making it to third on a throwing error.
Catcher Jeff Pyne was then walked, putting men on the corners with none out, Glenn makes it home on a sac fly, but the Jays shut down the inning with a 5-3 score.
The Jays then turned up the heat and came out swinging hard in the seventh, increasing the score to 9-3.
The Cornhuskers again loaded in the bottom of the seventh, but could not advance the runners and suffered the loss as a result.
Acknowledging they have been playing better, the Cornhuskers know what needs to be done in order to right the ship.
“We need some of our key players back,” said catcher Jeff Pyne. “The most important thing is for us to tighten up our defense and get the bats going again. We’re not helping out the pitchers even though they’ve been throwing pretty good.
“Hopefully we’ll just get back to playing some solid ball again and put up some Ws in the second half of the season.”
Steve Boric agreed with his teammate: “We’ve got to eliminate the errors first and get a little bit of team motivation out there – the bench is kind of dull. We just have to go out there any play how we can. We have three wins under our belts this year, but we’re not coming together as a team and have been making errors. The bats go hot and then cold.”
The Cornhuskers will try to halt their losing streak this week against some stiff competition with a game on the road in Orillia on Wednesday and a double header at home against the league leading Bolton Brewers on Saturday.
For more information, stats or schedules visit www.ndbl.ca.