The Bulldogs had a heartbreaking loss to the now 20-12 Arkansas Monticello B0ll Weevils due to some lackluster pitching by Union and one huge at bat by Bryan Ray Tuesday afternoon.
After going down 2-0 in the second inning and then 3-0 in the fourth, the Boll Weevils had a massive swing of momentum in the fifth inning. They had two quick outs at the start of the inning but when their catcher, Gentry Ford, stepped up, he ripped one straight to center field for a double. This was followed by two batters being hit by pitches and an insane almost inside-the-park home-run by Ray, who reached home on an error putting his team up 4-3.
Needless to say, that inning and pitching caught the blame for the loss.
“I just felt that our pitchers weren’t there today,” Zachary Phillips, senior right fielder, said. “You just got to have the pitchers in order to beat that team.”
“I feel like we gave the game away,” assistant coach Andy Rushing said. He was talking with his pitchers after the game about how “the baserunners that eventually scored and beat us got on base and they didn’t earn their way on.”
Despite this blemish, there is still plenty of reason to remain hopeful. Both Phillips and Rushing expressed how the team has started to come out of it’s recent offensive slump this past weekend. With six upcoming conference games and a healthy 12-8 conference record, the Bulldogs look to throw their weight around against Lee University and University of North Alabama.
“I feel like our hitting has come around, we were on a cold streak there for a little while but our hitting has stepped up and our pitching has been consistent over the last few conference games,” Phillips said.
“Every weekend you really go to war because everybody’s good and if you don’t play well you get beat,” Rushing said.
The Bulldogs will play at Lee University April 8th and 9th and return home against North Alabama on April 14th and 15th.