The Washington Demon baseball team took its first loss in five games last night, falling to the Central Lee Hawks by a score of 10-6.

For the most part, it was a shootout through and through.  The Hawks scored two runs in the top of the first, but the Demons struck back for two of their own in the home half of the inning to tie it up.  The Hawks got three in the third inning, and the Demons came back with two in the third and a run in the fourth to tie it up again at five.  Each team got one in their half of the sixth inning, and the score was knotted up at six apiece going into the top of the seventh.

The leadoff hitter reaching an error set the tone for how the top of the seven inning was going to go.  A subsequent hit batter, fielder’s choice, and a single would load up the bases.

Demon pitcher Erik Murphy’s only walk of the entire game came at the worst time, with the Hawks getting a run off a free pass with the bases jammed.  They would strike for three more runs on a passed ball and two squeeze bunts to take a 10-6 lead.  The Demons would go down in order in the bottom of the seventh to seal the deal.

Only one hit was given up in the seventh inning, but four runs were allowed to cross the plate.  Head coach Nathan Miller said after the game that the loss came partially because the tone was not set like it should have been.

“We kind of hit our Achilles Heel a little bit here tonight,” Miller said.  “We’ve talked before about how when we throw strikes and play solid defense, it sets the tone for the rest of the game, and we didn’t do a very good job of either of those tonight.”

Wilx Witthoft led the way at the plate for Washington in the loss, going 1-2 at the plate with two RBI.  Erik Murphy suffered the loss on the hill, giving up five earned runs on six hits in three and a third inning of work in relief.

The loss moves Washington to 17-7 on the season.  They’ll look to bounce back tonight against Southeast Conference rival Mount Pleasant in a double-header.  We’ll have coverage of that one on FM 106.1 KCII with the Washington HyVee Pregame Show begging at 5:00.  First pitch is set for 5:30.