Van Meter native and Hall of Fame Cleveland Indian pitcher once said, "Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again. That's the way life is, with a new gave every day, and that's the way baseball is." Sounds like good advice for the Charger baseball team after yesterday's lop sided loss to Audubon.

Yesterday's 11-1 loss for ACGC coach Taylor Morris wasn't what he was hoping for, but the first year mentor was still pretty upbeat. "It was nice to get out on the field and use it as a measuring stick on where we are at. The biggest thing we need to focus on are the small things that we can control and that is anywhere from signs to bunt coverages and knowing what were are doing. It wasn't the outcome we were looking for, but this is a process and the kids are buying in and doing everything they can to be a successful program."

Dominant pitching by Audubon starter Jackson Jensen through the first four innings kept the Charger bats quiet, and shaky Charger pitching that surrendered thirteen walks in the six inning game were big factors in the Charger loss. Jensen struck out ten Chargers through the four plus innings that he pitched, while surrendering one walk and two hits.

After a scoreless first inning, Audubon got on the board when Jensen walked with two outs, stole second and scored on two consecutive Charger passed balls. Charger pitcher Clayton Wardyn then struck out consecutive Wheelers before surrendering two doubles to make the score 2-0.

Audubon added two runs in the third and four in the fourth to put the game out of reach for the Chargers. Little ACGC offense--the team had just three hits on the day--and strong Wheeler pitching prevented the Chargers form mounting any kind of threat. Ben Kingery was a bright spot as he connected for a double to lead off the fourth inning and singled in the fifth. The only other Charger hit was Newell Rogers' single in the second inning.

The locals scored their lone run in the fifth inning when Reid Rumelhart got one base via a fielders' choice and advanced to second when Avery Wheatley was hit by pitch. Kingery's single drove in Rumelhart to make the final 11-1.

Three Chargers each threw two innings from the mound. Clayton Wardyn pitched the first two innings, giving up four runs on three hits, while walking four and striking out four. Eli Kading threw innings three and four, giving up four runs on five hits. He walked six and stuck out one Wheeler. Michael Ure finished the final two innings for ACGC. Ure gave up three runs on two hits, while waking three and fanning two batters.

With today's postponement of a WCAC game with Madrid, the Chargers will play a makeup game with Madrid on the local diamond tomorrow (Wednesday). The JV game will be played at 5:30 with the varsity game to follow.

Score by inning:

Audubon 022 403--11 10 1

ACGC 000 001-- 1 3 1

Charger box sore:

AB R H RBI

Rumelhart 3 1 0 0

Wheatley 2 0 0 0

Kingery 3 0 2 1

Littler 3 0 0 0

Ure 3 0 0 0

Byars 2 0 0 0

Rogers 3 0 1 0

Crawford 2 0 0 0

Nelson 1 0 0 0