Leaving the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, the Chanute Blue Comets fell to the Frontenac Raiders, 4-2, in home baseball action on Friday afternoon.
Frontenac’s offense put up three runs in the fourth then one more in the fifth.
“When Frontenac had their big inning, we weren’t getting some calls on pitches and that extended the inning,” Chanute head coach Ryan Ortiz said. “And then we had a few errors and that gave them some extra bases. But I thought we pitched well. We have to find a way to score more runs. We’re only averaging like three a game. We have to get the job done at the plate.”
Chanute was limited to five hits in the loss as the Blue Comets have struggled to mount offense.
“We have a lot of issues with our approach,” Ortiz said. “We get up there and lock up. We’re taking too many good pitches and swinging at bad ones. Our guys have to buy in and figure that out on their own.”
Brady Alonzo and Alijah Christy delivered solid outings on the hill for Chanute. Alonzo ate the loss, throwing 4.2 innings with seven hits and four runs allowed. Christy recorded the final seven outs, allowing one hit and striking out two.
“We’ve had a lot of guys throwing well,” Ortiz said. “I feel good about them. We’ve got enough arms that it just comes down to scoring runs. If you can’t score, it doesn’t matter what you hold them to.”
Setting the table as best he could, Lawrence Chaney tallied a pair of hits from the leadoff spot for Chanute.
“He had a great approach,” Ortiz said. “He likes hitting to the right side. He’s locked in right now and does well for us.”
The loss dipped Chanute’s record to 4-10 overall.
Up next
Chanute hosted Pittsburg on Monday. The Blue Comets then head to Girard on Tuesday.
“I feel good. We competed well in the last inning. We just need to do that every inning,” Ortiz said. “We need to put pressure on defenses to make plays. We can’t give teams leads and let them feel comfortable.”
