Sports Writer

No hits in the last two innings of play cost Goshen and allowed Eufaula to take a 12-7 victory over the Eagles Friday afternoon.

In the early going, after some steady base hitting, Goshen led 4-2.

"The first five innings we did the little things right," Eagles head coach Chad Dube said. "We were disciplined, we waited for our pitch, and when it came we hit it hard and down on the ground."

But the Tigers mounted a rally, scoring four runs in the inning to take a 6-4 lead and in the fourth inning, the Tigers took advantage of some critical Goshen errors to catapult to a 9-4 lead.

"We really had an opportunity to win the game," Dube said. "We played a solid defensive game, but we failed to do that in the field. We made some crucial errors in key situations and that really just drove the nail in the coffin for us."

The Eagles weren’t done for the day as Jason Burgens dropped a two run single into the outfield in the bottom of the fourth to send home Dee Brundidge and Averick Rogers. In the fifth, the Eagles Russ Hamm came in to pinch hit and drove a single straight over second base to send in Lionel Potts. Now Goshen was just down 9-7. However, Eufaula was able to score three more runs, while Goshen could only struggle at the plate. The Eagles went a combined 0-6 in the sixth and seventh innings.

"The last two innings we swung at some bad pitches, popped the ball up in the infield and we didn’t put pressure on their (Eufaula’s) defense," Dube said. "We’ve been successful this year when we put pressure on the opposing teams defense."

It’s been a tough year so far for Goshen but Dube said that he could tell that his team has shown great improvement in recent weeks.

"I’m going to give the guys credit, they are improving," he said. "If we can just work on the little things and improve, we’re going to be successful."