Sports Writer

GOSHEN – After having its practice schedule messed up due to recent rains and a scheduling conflict over the weekend, the Goshen High School Eagles found the going difficult as they dropped a 6-2 road decision to the Highland Home Flying Squadron in a Class 2A baseball matchup Tuesday afternoon.

It was a significantly improved performance for the Eagles following a disappointing 11-1 loss to Eufaula Thursday afternoon. While the Eagles (1-4) cut down on the number of miscues from the last game, it was the timing of the mistakes which hurt Goshen’s chances against the Flying Squadron.

In the top of the first inning, the Eagles appeared to be headed to a good start when senior Mylo Jones led off with a single. However, Jones was quickly erased when Brandon Nickolson hit into a hard hit double play to end the rally.

One inning later, things went from bad to worse for the Eagles when they received another terrible break. With the Squadron leading 1-0 with runners on second and third and two outs, Rogers appeared to have picked off the runner at third base to end the inning from his catcher’s position. However, the umpire ruled the runner at third safe much to the dismay of GHS head coach Chad Dube. One pitch later, the Squadron took advantage of the break with a bloop single driving in both runners as Highland Home extended its lead to 3-0.

Dube said the bad breaks early in the game affected the inexperienced Eagles psychologically for the rest of the afternoon.

"It left the air out of our sails," Dube said. "We swung the ball hard in the first two innings but hit into a pair of double plays. After that we were unable to sustain any kind of offensive threat. We got a bad call go against us and we were down 3-0 (in the bottom of the third). It had a bad impact on the players. But the game is lost on the field and we’ll try to bounce back Thursday (against Straughn)."

In the next two innings, the Eagles bounced back scoring single runs in each

frame to cut the HHHS deficit to 3-2. In the top of the fourth, Goshen got on the board when Nickolson walked, reached second on a Michael Hatten single and scored from third on a RBI fielder’s choice by Wright. Demareo Green scored the only other run in the top of the fifth on a balk as Nickolson was credited with the RBI.

However, that’s as close the Eagles would get as the Flying Squadron scored two runs in the fifth and one run in the sixth to put the game away.

Dube said not being to practice following the loss to Eufaula Thursday certainly didn’t help Goshen’s cause at all.

"Baseball is an everyday sport because if you don’t play everyday or your skills will be declining," Dube said. "The days that are clear we work long and hard in preparation knowing it might rain the next day. I think our problem was that we were flat from the layoffs because of the rain. It was difficult not having practice."

The loss spoiled a good pitching performance by eighth grader Brandon Walters, who threw six

innings allowing three earned runs on nine hits while walking three and striking out five batters. Jones had two hits, while Hatten, Jones and Brendan Penny each had one hit in a losing cause.