The Wildcats dropped to 2-9 with four tough losses to bigger schools in the Adidas Tournament and at home Monday.
Columbia played host to Class 5A Pascagoula March 5 and was held to just four singles and a double in an 8-0 loss. The game was close going into the final innings with the Panthers up just 3-0 in the sixth inning, but they scratched across five runs to create some distance.
Aiden Singley led the offense with a double and a single, while Clay Powell, Carter Smith and Sanders each singled.
Landon Sanders took the loss on the hill for the Wildcats in his first start of the year, allowing five runs on five hits and two walks while striking out five in five innings. Tucker Lucas got touched up for three runs without recording an out in relief, but Dylan Broom and Luke Stogner each tossed a scoreless inning.
“It was kind of the same story that we’ve had in a bunch of games: once we turn it over to the bullpen, we have a problem throwing strikes,” head coach Kyle Lindsey said. “It’s not like teams have to hit their way to score runs because we put ourselves in a bad position for big innings with free passes. That was the story there, and it was pretty much the same thing against Sumrall.”
Friday at Sumrall the Wildcats were cruising toward an easy victory and were up 8-1 going into the bottom of the sixth inning, but the Bobcats tied the game with seven runs in the sixth and won in walk-off fashion 9-8 in the seventh. Singley scattered two earned runs over five innings while striking out four, but a pair of young arms cost him the victory.
Eighth-grader Collin Haney and freshman Eli Lowery combined to allow five earned runs on five hits and four walks while recording just one out. Javen Moses also pitched in relief, allowing one unearned run on three walks in 1 1/3 innings.
Sanders led the offensive charge with a pair of doubles and 3 RBI, and Smith also drove in three runs with a double and a single. Singley and Moses each drove in a run as well.
Lindsey said oftentimes close games go to the teams that do the right things, and the Wildcats need to get back to doing the right things preparation wise.
Saturday against St. Stanislaus at home, another big inning — this time a six-run second — cost the Wildcats in a 12-4 loss. Cody Jones got roughed up in 1 1/3 innings, allowing seven runs — six earned — on six hits and one walk, while Dylan Wallace surrendered four runs on four hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings. Moses led the offense with two singles, and Singley, Smith and Eli Johnson each had RBI singles.
Monday was even worse for the Wildcats as they gave up 11 runs in the third inning and 10 runs in the fourth in a 25-3 loss to Purvis at home. Lowery surrendered four runs without recording an out, Chandler Carver gave up eight runs in two innings and Tucker Lucas allowed five earned in an inning. Luke Stogner was the lone bright spot on the mound, tossing 1 2/3 shutout innings.
As a team through 11 games Columbia has walked 66 batters in 64 innings, and 32 of those innings have been thrown by sophomores, freshmen and an eighth grader. Lindsey has essentially been auditioning bullpen jobs to eight underclassmen, and at this point he said nobody has solidified a role.
“Our walks have been high, and that’s been a problem all year. We’ve thrown a lot of guys out there, but I’m not ready to hit the panic button on it,” he said. “I think once we get to a set week in district we’ll be good to go. We’ve got some guys in a perfect world would be better suited learning how to pitch in JV games, but we don’t have that quality to be able to do that right now.”
He added that sometimes the moment has been too big for them, but the only way to get over that is to be put in those situations.
The Wildcats will travel to Copiah-Lincoln Community College to take on Brookhaven Thursday and will host Mize and Perry Central in a doubleheader Saturday.
Pictured Above: First-year CHS head coach Kyle Lindsey talks to the Wildcats during a February practice. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
