After their final game of the day against the Joplin (Mo.) Miners, an umpire seemed to sum up the SEK Crusaders’ experience best.
“The umpire told me after the game that if it wasn’t for bad luck, we wouldn’t have any luck at all,” said Crusaders’ coach Will Crozier.
Joplin used solid pitching as the Crusaders seemed to hit the ball but, Crozier said that it was right to Joplin fielders in an 11-0 run-rule loss Friday afternoon at Joplin High School during day three of the Premier Baseball Incoming Freshman tournament.
Earlier in the day, the Crusaders fell, 9-1, to the Fort Worth Cats — the team that will face the Pittsburg Pirates today at noon at JayCee Ballpark.
“We faced a pitcher that was very strong and he was on,” Crozier said. “The hits just weren’t there all day. Our guys were off-balance all day long.”
It didn’t help that the Miners picked up five runs in the first inning and scored another five over the next inning-and-a-half.
“When we were down 8-0 I had to tell the boys that we couldn’t let them score any more runs,” Crozier said.
But, the Crusaders seemed to have issues against the Joplin bats as well as their pitching.
“What we are facing is fastball hitters and they are hitting it left and right,” Crozier said. “Their pitchers are really changing things up and we are getting enough on the ball.”
Webb City’s Austin White did have a double and single for the Crusaders as their defense did not commit an error in either of their games on Friday.
“The kids played very well but, our bats just couldn’t get anything done,” Crozier said.
Against Fort Worth, it was another case of the Crusaders just not being able to hit the gaps at the plate.
“They just out-pitched us big time,” Crozier said. “We could not get the hits.”
Girard’s Nicholas George scored the Crusaders’ lone run after plating on a passed ball in the second inning.
“After that, everywhere we hit the ball, they were at,” Crozier said.
The Crusaders will close out pool play today with a 2:30 p.m. game against the Nebraska Sluggers — the same team that defeated the Pirates 14-0 on Friday — at Joe Becker Stadium.
“I know the guys would really love to beat Nebraska,” Crozier said. “We’ll just have to see what happens.”
Matthew Clark can be reached at matthew.clark@morningsun.net or at 620-231-2600, Ext. 140. Follow Morning Sun sports at twitter.com/mssports.
