The Charger baseball team saw its losing streak extend to ten games, as the team lost a double header last night to Earlham, 17-2 and 10-9, in games placed at Earlhem. The first game was decided early as the Cardinals opened a 12-0 lead after three innings. By contrast the nightcap wasn't decided until the Chargers' last at bat when they fell just short of tying the game.

In game one ACGC managed only two hits against Cardinal pitching--singles by Quenton Spack and Newell Rogers in the fourth and fifth innings respectively. The Chargers had only three other base runners in the game. Ben Kingery got on by error in the fourth, Nathan Schller walked in the fifth inning, and Spack got on by a fielder's choice in the fifth.

Four Chargers shared pitching responsibilities. Will Byars pitched one inning; Garrett Walhovd went two innings; Lucas Marsh went an inning and one third; Eli Kading finished the final two thirds of an inning. All together Charger pitching issued thirteen hit batsmen or walks. Combined with four ACGC errors and seven Earlham hits, the Cardinal side of the scoreboard was busy.

The second game was an entirely different story. After Earlham took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, the Chargers scored two in the second when Walhovd was hit by pitch, Logan Brincks singled to left, Schiiler got on by error, and Quenton Spack singled to left, driving in Walhovd and Brincks.

After Earlham scored five in the fourth inning to take a 6-2 lead, the Chargers responded with a big rally in the sixth, scoring six runs to take back the lead at 8-6. During the big inning the Chargers went to the plate eleven times, combining an error, two hit batsmen, and four consecutive hits to tally the six scores. Kingery, Owen Hansen, Byars, and Walhovd had consecutive singles, with each diving in at least one run.

Earlham scored a run in the fifth without a hit and plated three more runs in the sixth to retake the lead at 10-8. The Chargers were down to their last at bat. Owen Hansen drove in Bryce Littler who had been hit by pitch to put the Chargers within one at 10-9. That was as close a ACGC would get, as the game ended with a pop up to the Cardinal shortstop with Kingery on second representing the tying run.

Owen Hansen led the team in hitting, as he went 3 for 5 with three RBI. Logan Brincks also had multiple hits, as he collected two. After getting only two hits in the first game, the Chargers collected ten in the nightcap.

Brincks, Michael Ure, Kingery, Kading, and Marsh all saw action on the mound for the Chargers. As a staff they gave up only two hits, but control was an issue as ten Cardinal batters were issued free passes and five other batters were hit by pitch.

A positive take away is that the local boys did not roll over and play dead, which would have been tempting after the 17-2 rout they endured in the first game. But they fought to the end, coming up just short. It was one of the best efforts of the season.

The team has the weekend off and will return to action on Monday when it travels to Van Meter for a JV/Varsity doubleheader with the JV game to begin at 5 PM.

First game line score: Second game line score:

Earl 462 050 0--17 8 1 ACGC 020 006 1--9 10 2

ACGC 000 110 0-- 2 2 4 Earl 100 513 0--10 4 2

Charger Box Score: Charger Box Score:

AB R H RBI AB R H RBI

Spack 3 1 1 0 Spack 5 0 1 2

Littler 2 0 0 0 Littler 3 2 0 0

CaWardyn 2 0 0 0 CaWardyn 2 1 1 1

Kingery 2 0 0 0 Kingery 4 1 1 0

Byars 1 0 0 0 Hansen 5 1 3 3

Hansen 2 0 0 0 Byars 4 0 1 1

Nelson 1 0 0 0 Walhovd 3 1 1 1

Schiller 1 0 0 0 Brincks 4 2 2 0

Ure 0 0 0 0 Schiller 2 1 0 0

ClWardyn 0 0 0 0 Ure 1 0 0 0

Kading 0 0 0 0 Kading 0 0 0 0

Rogers 1 1 1 0 Marsh 0 0 0 0

Marsh 0 0 0 0 Rum'lhart 0 0 0 0

Walhovd 1 0 0 0 Crawford 0 0 0 0

Rumelhart 1 0 0 0