For the Daily Reporter
FORTVILLE — The game hadn’t been played like the baseball Ryan Carr was seeing in practice, so the Mt. Vernon coach made its aftermath feel like a practice.
“When you don’t play the game correctly, you’re not going to get the breaks to go your way,” Carr said while his players ran sprints in the outfield as dusk approached at Mt. Vernon on Monday. “When you don’t catch pop-ups, when you don’t get in front of the baseball and knock it down — when you don’t play the way we have been practicing, and just show up on a Monday and phone it in, you’re not going to get any breaks that go your way.”
In a game in which Mt. Vernon outhit its opponents until late in the evening, defensive issues would define an ugly 18-7 loss to Carmel. While citing key injuries to shortstop Mason Montgomery (who is out for the season) and cleanup hitter Dino Tharp as hurdles for his team to overcome, Carr invoked the Marauders to have pride in their play.
“It changes the dynamic,” Carr said of the injuries, “but we certainly have baseball players who are good enough to make those plays.”
Mt. Vernon starting pitcher Hunter Davis experienced some control issues early on. A double-digit at-bat by Carmel lead-off hitter John David Rogers ended in a walk after Davis started ahead in the count. A similar at-bat followed, also leading to a walk.
The Greyhounds managed a run in the frame, and Carr implored his starter to run after a bunt that ended up going foul in an effort to breathe energy into his side.
But Davis gained composure in the second inning, putting increasing velocity on his fastball and hitting the corners of the strike zone.
An inning of one-two-three frames followed for Davis and his Carmel counterpart, Drew Olssen. Davis struck out two Greyhounds in the second, finding his control and velocity in the inning.
Mt. Vernon turned the tide in the bottom of the third. Shortstop Matthew Boyle got on base with a leadoff walk. He advanced to second base after an Olssen balk and moved to third following a Sam McCarty ground out. Boyle then swiped home following an Olssen wild pitch.
Carmel regained the lead in the top of the fourth through a combination of their own hitting and less-than-ideal defense from the Marauders.
Mt. Vernon committed three errors in the frame, with a missed infield grounder, a missed pop-up and an overthrow on a stolen base attempt setting the team back during the five-run inning.
“They were giving us freebies,” Carr said of the fatal fourth inning. “A pop-up in the infield, a pop-up to the catcher, a pop-up in foul territory here.
“I don’t think that’s necessarily mental. I think that’s … I don’t know. Maybe it’s mental. I have no idea. I don’t know where they are right now.”
Carmel had started the season slowly but regained their footing as of late. Mt. Vernon was coming off a two-game losing streak, with both defeats coming at the hands of Greenfield-Central.
Jackson Dunlavy struck out two batters in relief for the Marauders. Thomas Obergfell subbed for him in the top of the seventh inning. Carmel piled on 10 runs in their last offensive frame.
Mt. Vernon won’t have much time to fix mistakes. The Marauders have a single practice this week, today, before playing games Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
“I don’t know how long the practice would have to be to cover all the things we did poorly today,” Carr said. “Five hours, probably? Yeah, it’s pretty embarrassing.”
