lincolnpotters.com

By Jordan Georgeson

The Lincoln Potters struggled with the visiting Healdsburg Prune Packers once again in Sunday night’s loss. Once again the Potters fell behind early, giving up one run in the first and three in the second to fall behind 4-0. The Prune Packers put up four runs in both the third and fourth innings as well to pull ahead to a commanding 12-0 lead. The Potters got a few runs back in the fourth and sixth innings but Healdsburg struck right back with a two run homer to bring their lead to 14-2. The Potters fought back and the bats woke up in the later innings but unfortunately just couldn’t get anything going, losing by a final score of 14-3.

The Potters struggled at the plate early in the game with only one hit in the first four innings of the contest. They were able to make contact with the Packers’ pitching but it was a lot of soft contact with several groundouts and fly balls. Jason Brandow had two RBI in the game with a fielder’s choice in the fourth and a single in the sixth. Trace Willhoite entered the game as a pitch hitter in the seventh and hit an RBI single in his only at-bat of the game. The Potters totaled three runs on five hits with seven runners left on base.

Pitching in the early innings was once again a problem for the Potters, giving up twelve runs in the first four innings and just two in the final five. The first six hits for the Prune Packers went for extra bases and they had five doubles and two home runs in the first three innings of the game. Situational pitching was a problem for Lincoln as ten of the fourteen runs given up came with two outs in the inning. The Lincoln bullpen did shut down the Packers’ offense in the second half of the game however, only allowing two runs on three hits in the final five innings.

“We’ve got to close out innings, they did a good job of getting ahead and knocking out the first two guys but we’ve got to close those innings. We’ve given up too many runs with two outs.” said coach Jon Peters about the Potters' struggles with giving up two-out rallies.

The Potters have an off day tomorrow before hitting the road for the next two games. On Tuesday they will head to Moraga to face off against the Walnut Creek Crawdads with a 4:00pm first pitch. After that they have another road game on Wednesday against the Solano Mudcats before returning home on Thursday to face the Healdsburg Prune Packers once again. Watch the Potters live on Facebook and listen on Potters Radio via the mixlr app. Also follow along on twitter @LincolnPotters to get live updates!

You can find tonight’s box score here.