T.J. Coleman ripped three hits against Red Jacket, but York fell 13-5. (Photo/ Bryan Jackson)
York looked like they might to be able to weather Red Jacket’s initial onslaught, and coach Ryan Conway said when facing such a big deficit, it’s important to whittle into the lead one inning at a time.
“I always want to try to put up a big number at some point, but when you get down 7-0 after the first inning, you have to get yourself in the mindset of chipping away,” he said.
The Golden Knights (10-12) didn’t fold and cut the lead to 7-3 heading into the bottom half of the fourth thanks to back-to-back doubles by Neil Craft and T.J. Coleman in the second and RBI by Patrick Dishaw and Shutts in the third.
However, Red Jacket (13-4) cut the York comeback bid short by adding two runs in the fourth and four more in the fifth.
Coleman and Shutts both tallied three hits and an RBI to lead York at the plate, and Dishaw chipped in with an RBI triple and two runs scored.
Conway said the game never quite came together for York, and he applauded Red Jacket’s aggressiveness.
“Shutts might have been a little loose with his command to start, but I don’t want to take away anything we did,” he said. “They beat us. They were aggressive, they hit from top to bottom, they played unbelievable defense. They’re good. They’re a good team.”
According to Conway, York’s season was up-and-down, but their talent gave them the ability to play with anyone.
“I said at the beginning of the season that this is one of the more talented groups I’ve had, and I stand by that,” he said. “We’ve controlled our own destiny there has been a handful of games throughout the season where we have just beaten ourselves by not showing up and not having a lot of energy. Other times we’ve had unbelievable energy, and we’ve beaten teams like Geneseo, the #3 team in our class…We did what we did. We were a .500 team. I think our record reflects who we were.”
Red Jacket will move on to face Geneseo (14-5) Friday at a site to be determined.