Indians generous to Monroe, give up two games at home

A two game loss to visiting Monroe was hard for Tecumseh varsity baseball coach Tom Bullinger to swallow on Monday, April 22, with the Indians committing nine very costly errors during the games.“We hit the ball hard today, we just didn’t get enough big hits,” said Bullinger. “We had way too many freebies today: seventeen walks and nine errors. We can’t expect to win if we have that many freebies.”Monroe beat Tecumseh 8-5 in game one with relief pitcher Eric Eldred handed the loss. He pitched two innings and allowed four unearned runs on four hits while walking three and striking out three.Andrew Wood was the Indians’ starting pitcher and he threw five innings of the game. He allowed four unearned runs on two hits while walking three and striking out seven.“Andrew pitched a very good game and gave us a chance to win,” said Bullinger. “We made too many errors in this game. We can’t give a team that many unearned runs and expect to compete. We have to get better to help out our pitchers.”Tecumseh’s offense produced six hits with Jacob Britt leading the way with a 2-for-4 effort that included a double.Grant Anschuetz was 1-for-3 with two RBI.Tecumseh lost the second game 7-5 with Nick Cowen recording the pitching loss. He pitched 2 1/3 innings and allowed three runs on no hits while walking seven and striking out four.Ben Vannatter was sent to the hill on relief and pitched the remaining innings. He gave up four runs, three earned, on four hits while walking four and striking out one.The Indians’ offense recorded eight hits with Britt (2 run HR), Vannatter (RBI) and Wood each going 2-for-4 at the plate. Spencer Adams was 1-for-3, with a double.“I know we haven’t been able to practice outside, but that is just an excuse. We have to learn from today and work that much harder in practice to clean these things up.”Tecumseh picked up another win at Ann Arbor Pioneer on Tuesday, April 23 with a 7-0 victory. Game two of the doubleheader was called off after two innings of play.Phil Carey earned the pitching win, going all seven innings and giving up just two hits and a walk while striking out six. “Phil was outstanding today,” said Bullinger. “He had great command and we played good defense behind him. “We had some key hits with two outs and our top of the order did a good job of getting on base and scoring runs. [Top three batters, Hunt, Adams, Britt, scored two runs each].” The Indians produced five hits with Britt (1-for-3, double, 2 RBI, 2 runs), Carey (1-for-2, double, RBI), Wood (1-for-2, 2 RBI), Spencer Adams (1-for-1, 2 runs) and Casey Hunt (1-for-4, 2 runs) each recording hits.Tecumseh is now 5-3 overall and 2-1 in the Southeastern Conference.