GROWING PAINS: Knights fall 6-0 to Patriots in midweek game

Apr. 21—Frederica Academy's baseball team was able to keep up with Pinewood Christian Academy on Tuesday until the seventh inning, when the Patriots scored three to win 6-0 over the Knights. While the score seems a tad lopsided, the Knights hung tough against the Patriots for most of the game.

"We played them tight all the way to the seventh — made a couple of errors late, and they were kind of able to break it open," said Frederica coach Tim Orlosky. "We had our chances to score early, but a lot of credit to their pitcher — he is pretty good and mixed in three pitches and was able to locate.

"Had a good idea of what he was doing out there — he was tough. We continue to play a better brand of baseball, and I'm hoping we can put it all together here at the end — that's really what we've been working toward."

The Knights strung together a couple of hits early on in the game but were unable to get them home. The Patriots scored first in the top of the second off a solo home run and then an RBI single to make it 2-0.

Ben Carroll got the start for Frederica and pitched two innings before Will Counts came in for relief. Counts tallied at least two strikeouts on his outing before Johnathan Havens came in for him.

While Havens was on the mound, the Knights held the Patriots scoreless into the fourth inning. However, in the fifth, Havens hit a batter, then had a wild pitch that allowed him to reach third. An error by Ben Armstrong made it 3-0 in the fifth.

Havens pitched until the middle of the sixth inning when Armstrong came in for relief. Then Mason McGraw pitched after Armstrong.

Pinewood scored their final three runs on errors by Frederica's outfield to make it the final 6-0 score.

Orlosky said he felt like his pitchers are out there doing the best they can right now.

"The guys later in the game didn't do horribly, just didn't make the plays behind them. They made some good hard contact early, and we made the plays, but these guys are trying to find a way to win," Orlosky said. "I'm not sure they would call themselves true pitchers, but they find a way and they battle. They're just giving us all they got out there, so I'm pretty pleased with the effort they give on the mound every game."

Those errors turned a close ballgame into a six-run loss. Orlosky said a lot of the mistakes are because they're playing guys at different positions for the experience.

"We have so many moving pieces, and we still have a ton of injuries," Orlosky said. "We had three injuries we were working around — trying to get guys reps in positions they wouldn't normally play can be difficult. We'll continue to work on their situational awareness and see if we can't put it together. As long as they keep playing hard and grinding it out in practice, then I'm happy."

Today, the Knights travel to Savannah to take on Benedictine for a non-region matchup, with the first pitch slated for 5 p.m.