Things went from bad to worse quickly for the Beatrice Orangemen in the sixth inning of their varsity baseball game against Lincoln Pius Friday at Christenson Field.
After leading 4-1 through five innings of play, Beatrice gave up seven runs on one hit to Pius in the ill-fated sixth inning.
The Thunderbolts went on to win the game 11-5.
“They (Pius) took the lead without ever putting the ball in play,” Beatrice co-head coach Steve Hartman said.
Beatrice starter James Rivers threw to the first two batters in the sixth, hitting one and walking the other. Both ended up scoring.
Justin Coleman entered the game, but failed to retire any of the three hitters he faced, which led to three more runs.
Kory Diekman entered the game with Pius leading 6-4 and gave up two more runs on a double and sacrifice fly.
Hartman said Rivers had had a “great outing” through the first five innings.
“It’s too bad, because he threw a nice ball game,” Hartman said.
In the sixth inning, all three pitchers had a tough time throwing strikes for awhile.
Diekman finally settled down and retired the Thunderbolts, but not before the damage was done.
“It’s a humbling game,” Hartman said. “If you don’t throw the ball across the plate there’s not much you can do about it. We had a hard time right there.”
Hartman said Diekman, after he got warmed up, did a nice job of getting the Orangemen out of the inning.
“He (Diekman) responded, so that’s a positive for us,” Hartman said.
The Orangemen also had some good at-bats after falling behind in the game, Hartman said, which was another positive.
“We just got down too far,” Hartman said.
After giving up one run to Pius in the top of the first inning on a hit batter, two errors and a sacrifice fly, the Orangemen rallied in the bottom of the inning.
Beatrice scored three runs in the bottom of the first, taking a 3-1 lead.
Kory Diekman led off with a single for the Orangemen and advanced to second on a wild pitch.
Garrett Bruhn reached on a walk.
A single by James Rivers loaded the bases.
Sam Busboom was then issued a two-out walk, forcing home Diekman with the tying run.
A two-RBI single by Justin Wittler scored both Ryan Poling, who was in as a courtesy runner for Bruhn, and Rivers and put Beatrice up 3-1.
In the bottom of the third inning, the Orangemen added a single run.
Rivers reached on an error, took second on a balk and advanced to third on a ground out by Matt Benson.
A Pius error on a ball hit by Busboom scored Rivers and gave the Orangemen a 4-1 lead.
Beatrice held the three-run lead until the top of the seventh when the Orangemen gave up the seven runs on one hit, going up 8-4.
The Orangemen plated a single run in the bottom of the sixth.
A.J. Jarvis led off with a single to left field, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Diekman.
After Beatrice pulled back within three runs of the Thunderbolts, Pius scored three more times in the top of the seventh inning.
The Thunderbolt runs came as the result of a double, a walk, an error, a sacrifice fly and a single, making the final 11-5.
Beatrice finished with nine hits in the game, all singles.
Diekman, Bruhn and Wittler led the way with two basehits each, while Rivers, Busboom and Jarvis added one each.
“We had some pretty good at-bats,” Hartman said.
Coleman, pitching in relief of Rivers, took the loss.
Diekman also saw action on the mound, finishing the game’s final two innings.