Fresh off a three-game winning streak, the Tigers were unable to overcome four errors and an eight-run sixth inning against Glendale.
The Falcons, facing their new Class 4 brethren, scored 10 runs over the final two innings to come away with a 14-4 non-conference victory at Carl Lewton Stadium.
It was, according to first-year coach Mike Godfrey, a disappointing way end to the week, in part, because Friday’s loss, at times, was down right ugly.
“It was ugly,” Godfrey said. “That’s the only way to describe it.”
This one may have gotten away in the first inning when the Tigers, now 3-4, failed to push across more than one run with two runners on and nobody out.
“There’s a time to win every game,” Godfrey explained, “and that may have been it.”
Dalton Cossey scored to give the Tigers an early 1-0 advantage after Levi Snyder drove him in with an RBI double to deep left field. The Tigers, however, were unable to parlay the early offensive outburst into a big inning.
“Good teams know when to seize the moment,” Godfrey said. “We’re not quite there yet.”
Joe Allan, making his second start of the week, was, once again, the game’s tough loser.
Allan, who picked up the loss in Monday’s non-conference game against El Dorado Springs, contained Glendale for the first two innings, although he needed more than 45 pitches to do it.
Glendale finally got to Allan, though, scoring a pair of runs in the third inning and another pair in the fourth.
Allan, who gave up six runs in 4 2/3 innings of work, exited with two outs in the fourth before returning to close the game out in the seventh.
“Joe came out and got ahead of hitters,” Godfrey said. “He kept the ball down but lost command of his off-speed pitches.”
Mason Siebert and Jarrett Garber followed Allan, yielding eight runs in 2 1/3 innings.
The Falcons blew the game open with an eight-run sixth — in large part because of six hits, including a home run by Caleb Bolda. All of Glendale’s runs came after the leadoff hitter, Ollie Kady, was retired.
Then, finally, the Tigers responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth to make sure the 10-run rule would not come into effect.
Snyder was the only Tiger to collect more than one hit, going 2-for-4 with one RBI. In all, the Tigers had seven hits while Glendale’s attack garnered 16.
“Our approach (at the plate) wasn’t very good,” Godfrey said.
Glendale, backed by starter Jacob Gray and a pair of relievers, added two more runs in the top of the seventh to complete the scoring.
The Tigers resume play at 7 p.m. on Monday against Monett in the 35th Annual Bill O’Dell Baseball Tournament.
This year’s tournament will be played in four days — Monday through Thursday — rather than five days.
Lamar, which enters as the No. 1 seed, opens the tournament against Seneca at 2 p.m. Monday at Carl Lewton Stadium.
