By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

GREENVILLE — The Greenville American Legion Post 140 Thunder baseball team battled for eleven innings against Muncie Post 19 on July 3. They came up short as they lost 9-7 in extras at Sater Heights Park.

Head coach Chad Henry said the team continued to battle as the game dragged on. The team had too many mistakes strung together for them to overcome.

“This game was kind of how our season has went. When we do something bad, we let it compound and we do two or three things bad. Where as we just haven’t gotten past that yet. If we get a couple of hits, we’ll get four or five hits. We’re just working on stepping up and being the guy when things go bad,” Henry said.

After Muncie scored a run in the top of the first inning, the Thunder responded with three runs of their own. Xavier Mathews tied the game with a RBI singe. Braeden Wills followed that up with a RBI double. Adam Edwards tacked on the third run on a RBI single.

Greenville added two more runs in the bottom of the second inning on a triple by Nathan Waggoner and a double by Braden Chambers. After two innings, the Thunder had a 5-1 lead.

Henry said after getting that lead, the team got a little complacent. The team started to be more passive at the plate and weren’t as aggressive as they were early in the game.

“We took a different approach to the plate. We weren’t swinging at good pitches, we weren’t as hungry. We took a lot of strikes, a lot of strikeouts looking. It shows we were begging for walks a little bit more than trying to be aggressive and protecting with two,” Henry said.

Muncie did get back on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth inning on a solo home run. They then took the lead in the top of the fifth inning with a four-run inning. They scored one run off an error and drove in three more runs off of two singles.

Muncie added on another run in the top of the sixth inning on a RBI single. Greenville responded this time and tied the game up. Matthews came up clutch with a two-run single with the bases loaded to tie the game at 7-7.

From that point, the two teams battled for the next four innings. Both teams had their chances to take a lead with runners in scoring position. They just couldn’t get that timely hit.

Muncie found a way to load the bases in the top of the eleventh with one out. A walk and an error drove in the two runs they needed to win the game.

Greenville had some momentum heading into the bottom half of the final frame. Muncie had bases loaded again with the two-run lead, but couldn’t add on any more runs.

Edwards was able to get on base in the bottom of the inning with a one out single. But the Thunder couldn’t get another hit after that.

Mathews finished with three hits and three RBI. Four more Thunder players recorded a RBI in the game.

Waggoner pitched five innings late in the game and struck out six batters. Bryce Blumenstock and Zack Fulk both had two strikeouts on the mound.

This game also marked the return of Aiden Psczulkoski. Henry said with not having his catchers available, Psczulkoski volunteered to play in this game.

Even after a year off from baseball after going off to college, Psczulkoski didn’t skip a beat behind the plate.

“He’s one of my favorite kids. I had him for four years. He’s not playing college ball so he hasn’t seen a baseball or anything like that. But sure enough, he had two hits and got hit by a pitch. He’s the same guy. Just having him behind the plate, you put four years into a kid and you see it out there. It’s clockwork, the kid can get it done,” Henry said.

The Thunder are now 11-11 on the season.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected].