Griffons fall to A's at home

Griffons catcher Andrew Lacombe uncorks a two-RBI double in the fourth inning of Thursday night's first of two games against the Mac-N-Seitz A's.

Nevada Daily Mail

For the fifth time this season, the Nevada Griffons took on the Mac-N-Seitz A's Thursday night. When the action got started, it was already the Griffons' fifth game in four days, but to add even more trouble to the mix, the two squads came into the night scheduled to play not one game, but two.

Throughout the year, neither squad has really been able to gain much of an advantage in the series. In the first four meetings of the year, the Griffons won the first two before dropping the last two in a series that was capped off by a 13-6 win for the A's at Lyons Stadium on June 20.

The Griffons came into the contest not only hoping to rebound from the last two losses in the season series, but also from a disappointing performance on their home field against the Joplin Outlaws Wednesday night. Led by starter Zach Juliano, the Outlaws took that contest by a final score of 4-2.

Cameron Wheeles beats the throw to home to score one of the two runs driven in by Andrew Lacombe in the fourth inning.

The A's, on the other hand, came into the contest riding a high from their recent split of another doubleheader at Liberty Park against the Sedalia Bombers. Sedalia won the opener in that twin bill by a final score of 7-0 before dropping the nightcap 7-2.

Though the Griffons came into the contest with a considerable bad taste to wash out of their mouths from the tough defeat they suffered at the hands of the Outlaws, the A's ultimately used their new-found momentum to their advantage, taking the opener by a final score of 8-3.

Northwestern State University left-hander Jacob Williford got the start in the night's opening game and struggled right from the start. After allowing a leadoff hit to Ryan Barban, Williford's troubles only got worse as he went on to allow two doubles and a home run -- a two-run shot to right by Adrian Schenk -- and the A's jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead after just one inning.

First baseman Shaun Hoover got one of those runs back for the Griffons in the home half of the second as he repeated Schenk's feat and blasted a line drive home run of his own just to the left of the scoreboard. Starting pitcher Matt Potter and his defense were quickly able to recover, however, and kept the Griffons at bay for the remainder of the frame and took a 4-1 lead into the third.

Williford's struggles didn't end there. Mac-N-Seitz second baseman Aaron Williams touched Williford for his second home run allowed on the day and the season as he sent a ball into the trees just inside the left field foul pole to lift the A's lead back to four at 5-1.

As the scheduled seven-inning affair wore on, it looked as though the A's were on their way to yet another blowout victory as Williford surrendered his third home run of the game to Matt Skipper to keep the fourth inning alive. After Willford followed that with yet another extra-base hit to Byron Johann, Griffons head coach Ryan Mansfield appeared to have seen enough and was forced to go to the bullpen.

Williford's day came to a quick end after allowing eight runs -- all earned -- on 11 hits with four strikeouts and a walk in just 3 2-3 innings.

Blinn College right-hander Josh Dean came on in relief with two out in the frame and didn't have much better luck. Though he did not allow the one runner he inherited to come around and score, Dean was able to retire just one of the three batters he faced in the frame, walking the first two.

The Griffons and catcher Andrew Lacombe had other ideas, however. Though Lacombe came into the contest with just seven hits in 43 at-bats on the year, he came through for the Griffons in a big way as he scooted a ground ball past the glove of a diving Barban to bring home two runs. Potter once again recovered quickly, but not before the Griffons cut the lead back to five, taking an 8-3 deficit into the fifth.

That was the end of the offense for the remainder of the seven-inning opener and the A's ultimately held on to take an 8-3 win. Potter went the the distance for the A's, allowing three runs -- all earned -- on six hits with four strikeouts and three walks.

The two squads played one more game shortly after the conclusion of the first to make up for last Sunday's rainout, but the results of that contest were unavailable at press time and will be reported in tomorrow's edition of the Herald-Tribune.

With the loss, the Griffons' overall record dropped to 20-16 on the year, 18-16 in league play and they are scheduled to be back in action tomorrow as they host the MINK League South Division-leading Sedalia Bombers at 7 p.m.