Our third and final game of this homestand pits us against the Lafayette County Huskers. The Huskers play in District 15 and are one of the better teams in their district. They weren’t the preseason favorites in their district, but they’re off to a hot start at 6-1. With our struggles at the plate over the past few games, I’m not too confident about today’s game. But the fans keep coming out to see us play, with 108 people at the park. I’ve got John Daves on the hill today, and he boosts my confidence early, striking out two in the 1st, as our opponent goes down in order. In the 2nd, Samir Shivers doubles and comes home two batters later thanks to a Lafayette County fielding error. My confidence just got a little higher now that we’re on the board. Daves is pitching well, but in the 4th, he allows two straight base hits to start the inning. With men on the corners and no outs, we trade a run for the double play. Our bats have gone flat, and at the end of four, the game is tied 1-1. In the 5th, Daves allows two more hits, putting men on the corners again. A ground out to short allows another run to score and we now trail 2-1. I pull the plug on Daves and go to the bullpen. That works for an inning and a third, but the Huskers blow the game open in the 7th. Jeremy Williams starts the inning for me, but with one out, the bases are loaded. So, I bring in Bill Mills to shut it down. But Mills ends up walking a run in, then gives up a 2-RBI double. There are two more RBI singles in the inning, and when the dust settles, we’re down 7-1. Lafayette County pretty much owns my hitters, and they go on to win the game by the same score. We drop to 4-4 on the year, and whatever confidence I had before the game is completely gone now.
