Things started out almost perfectly for Tooele when it played Hunter at Dow James Field on Thursday.
The Buffaloes raced out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, but the Wolverines doubled that score in the next six to win 8-6.
“We jumped out,” said head coach Catham Beer. “We were high as a kite in the dugout that first inning. I thought, we’ll just keep the pressure on. That’s the thing we’ve got to learn too, 4-nothing in the first inning doesn’t mean anything.”
Tooele pitcher Hector Arce led off with a single in the bottom of the first. He and catcher TJ Bender both scored when second baseman McKay Pollmann hit a double to the gap in right field.
Shortstop Ryan Brady hit him in from the sixth spot in the batting order, and later scored when first baseman Braiden Bell hit a single of his own before getting picked off the base paths to end the inning.
In the top of the third inning, Arce struck out Hunter second baseman Jace Grossaint, but gave up four straight singles to the heart of the Wolverine batting order and allowed two earned runs that made it 4-3.
Arce gave up another three hits in the top of the fourth, and Hunter climbed on top with a 6-4 lead.
In the bottom half of the frame, senior Matt Memmott was awarded first base on catcher interference, stole second and advanced to third on a poor pickoff attempt by Hunter catcher Dallin Bankhead. Memmott scored when Bell put the ball into play. Bell should have been Tooele’s second out but an errant throw allowed him to reach first, where he was later stranded to make it 6-5 Hunter.
“We’ve got to execute the small things,” Beer said. “The frustrating thin, like I was telling the team just now, was it’s the little things we’ve been doing since we were 4- or 5-years-old, 3-years old in the back yard.”
Arce rebounded well and struck out the side in the top of the fifth. The senior went on to pitch a complete seven innings with seven strikeouts and no walks.
“I’m impressed,” Beer said of his pitcher. “He’s doing better and he’s gotten better mentally.”
In the bottom of the fifth, Arce hit a leadoff single and stole second. He scored from third two batters later when Pollmann was picked off stealing second in a designed, delayed double-steal to tie the game at 6-6.
In the top of the sixth, Bender threw out Bankhead attempting to steal second to clear the bases. Hunter third baseman Taylor Hollingsworth hit a single and was replaced by a pinch runner so he could warm up for relief duty in the final two innings. Grossaint put runners on first and third with his second single of the day.
With one out, Scott Johnson lined out to second, but the throw to first to get Grossaint missed the mark and went into the Hunter dugout. By rule, both runners were awarded two bases, which scored the go-ahead run.
Hunter scored once more in the inning and went on to win 8-6.
Tooele had six errors in the game.
Arce went 2-for-4 from the batter’s box with two singles and two runs, also stealing one base. Pollmann went 2-for-4 and had the tow-RBI double in the first, and was caught stealing second in the bottom of the fifth. Memmott had one steal. Brady had a steal and an RBI. Bell went 2-for-3 with one RBI.
Tooele had four steals in the game.
Hunter’s Bankhead went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles and an RBI from the seventh spot in the order, Hollingsworth went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles and an RBI from the the eighth, and Grossaint went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles and runs from the ninth.
Hunter had four hits in the third inning, three in the fourth and three in the sixth for a total of 10. Tooele had eight hits.
“It was a better game,” Beer said.
The loss brings Tooele to 1-6, and the Buffaloes will next travel to East on Monday.