Baseball

GRIFFITH, Ind. – Despite an impressive outing from Josh Ortiz, the Generals once again failed to hold onto a lead, losing to the Indiana Panthers 7-3. The loss puts the Generals at a league-worst 5-14 record and an 0-4 season record against the Panthers.

Ortiz tightroped out of trouble on several occasions to keep the Generals in front, as he pitched six innings of one-run ball and struck out four Panthers. He left the game in position for a win with his squad up 2-1.

“It felt better than it did last Friday,” remarked Ortiz when asked about his start. “Last Friday I wasn't feeling the best, but the goal of today was to control my walks, and I did a better job.” Ortiz only walked two Panthers in his quality start.

After Ortiz left the game, the Panthers offense came alive and dismantled the Generals bullpen. They scored six runs in the final three innings off of Ryan Polly and Kaden Kumzi. Kumzi got the loss, giving up five runs (four earned) in two innings of work.

“I thought Kaden was good, but he’s learning what’s working for him,” said coach Peter Romsek on his bullpen arm. In his postgame huddle with the team, he reminded his players that they are on the younger side and they’re learning from mistakes by watching them play out in games. He emphasized the need for pitchers to recognize what pitches work against batters and what to throw in certain situations. The same situational awareness was stressed to the rest of the defense, as several more errors were committed to try and clean up baserunners. The mistakes instead allowed runners to advance and score.

“I thought we were close to playing a complete ball game. Wheels fell off a bit there,” said Romsek about the performance as a whole. The Generals only trailed by one run in going into the ninth but lost their footing in a four-run top of the frame.

Griffith returns to action against the Panthers tomorrow at 7:10 p.m. for game two of a three-game series.

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