Chargers Go From "Riches to Rags" in Loss at Tri-Center

We are all familiar with the "rags to riches" stories about people who started life in destitution and became very successful as adults. Andrew Carnegie and Henry Ford come to mind. It no doubt works in reverse as well--that is, going from fame and fortune to poverty and destitution.

The ACGC baseball team experienced some of both scenarios within the last couple of days when the made the climb to "riches" by defeating top ranked Van Meter, 2-0, on Thursday and then made the tumble back into "rags" with a five inning,15-5 loss to a very good Tri-Center team on Friday in Neola. (The Trojans are 17-1 for the season.)

"We started off hot, but couldn't overcome the top hitting offense in the state. This was a tight ball game until the bottom of the fifth, and then they blew it open," ACGC coach Taylor Morris commented.

The Chargers took an early lead when Charlie Crawford doubled in the first inning and came home on a Trojan fielding error. They added another three runs in their second at bat to lead 4-0 after an inning and a half.

Eli Kading and Reid Rumelhart both waked to start the second Charger at bat. Both scored with two outs when Brock Littler singled. Littler also scored after stealing second base and coming home on a base hit by Newell Rogers.

Tri Center scored four unearned runs with two outs in their second at bat to go up by a 5-4 score. The Chargers committed two errors and Charger pitching walked three Trojans in the inning.

ACGC was able to tie it up in the top of the fourth inning when Cayden Jensen singled, stole both second and third, and scored on Reid Rumelhart's single. But that was essentially the end of any offense from the Chargers, with the only other base runner being Crawford who singled in the fifth inning.

Coach Taylor's "blew it open" comment regarding Tri-Center's ten run fifth inning is an apt description of what happened. The home team sent twelve batters to the plate in the decisive inning. It started off with a home run by Justin Weers and ended with a base on balls that forced in the final run to reach the 15-5 final. Charger pitching walked five Trojans and hit two batters in the inning.

Crawford was the only Charger with more than one hit--his two singles. The team came up with six hits for the game--two more than Tri-Center. Clayton Wardyn, Reid Rumelhart, and Lucas Marsh shared mound duties, with Wardyn taking the loss.

"Our guys showed they can compete with the best, but with our tough schedule we need to play a full seven innings to compete with these teams. We will be busy next week, as we play every day, but our guys are up for the challenge", Morris concluded.

The loss gives ACGC a season mark of 9-16 with a tough week of competition coming up that includes road games on Monday and Wednesday and home games on the other week days.

Score by inning:

ACGC 131 00--5 6 4

Tri-Ctr 050 0(10)-15 4 1

ACGC hitting: (AB-R-H-RBI) Littler(3-1-1-2) Crawford(2-1-2-0) Rogers(2-0-1-1) MKading(3-0-0-0) Jensen(3-1-1-0) EKading(2-1-0-0) Rumelhart(1-1-1-1) Marsh(2-0-0-0) Wardyn(2-0-0-0)

Pitching: (IP-H-R-ER-SO-BB) Wardyn(4.00-3-10-4-4-5) Rumelhart(0.00-0-3-3-0-1) Marsh(0.33-1-2-2-0-2)