Eagles grounded by No. 9 HLV

KEOTA - Thunder, lightning, rain and even hail caused the Eagles' baseball game with No. 9 (Class 1A) HLV to start late.

Errors caused the game to end early as the vistors took a 15-1 win in five innings Wednesday in a South Iowa Cedar League contest that resulted in just the second loss of the year for Keota (8-2). HLV is 13-0.

'I think we had more errors in this game than we have had all year,” Keota coach Dakota McCombs said. 'We just had a bad game, that's all there is to it.”

Maybe the rain made the ball slippery or the Eagles didn't get enough infield.

'We were out here an hour early and practiced infield,” McCombs said. 'I'd like to make excuses, but I don't think I can, I think it was just a bad game. It is what it is.”

Colton Clarahan started on the mound for the Eagles and gave up just five hits in the first three innings.

'He pitched well, but you can't win if your team doesn't back you up,” McCombs said.

The visitors scored 11 runs in the first three innings. Only two of those were earned. Of the seven first-inning runs, none were earned.

'There are three distinct areas of playing baseball, hitting, fielding and pitching,” McCombs said. 'We got to win at least two aspects of the game but we didn't do it.”

Justin Moeller threw one inning and yielded four runs. Only one was earned. Aidan Anderson tossed the last three outs.

Brady Duwa was 2 for 2 with a double and had the lone RBI.

'We were just making error after error,” McCombs said. 'There is not much you can do if you make errors, you can't win.”

Getting a chance to play the No. 9 team and a conference rival was an opportunity wasted.

'You would think we would be at our best,” McCombs said. 'I'm lost as to what happened. I don't know if they got in their head about playing the No. 9-ranked team in the state, I just don't know.”

McCombs said the team's bats were OK.

'At least we made solid contact when we were at the plate. If I had to say, that was a highlight.”

An adage about sports is teams learn more from a loss than a win.

'I don't know if we learned anything,” McCombs said. 'It was just one of those games where we played awful. That is a different team that I have seen all year.”

Keota plays at North Mahaska Friday.