Straughn made a game of it in the fourth inning, cutting into Ashford’s 6-3 lead by one, but in the end fell 6-5 on Saturday in area action at SHS.

 

The Tigers had eight hits behind the plate, and walked 12.

 

“That says it all,” SHS coach John Fussell said about the walks. “If you lose by one run and you give up 12 walks, it’s hard to win.

 

“I thought we played pretty good defensively and at times, we hit the ball well,” he said. “We’ve got to have more production in the bottom of the order and even in the top of the order, we’ve got to hit the ball on the ground more.”

 

In the fourth inning, Ashford’s first baseman, A. Daugherty, was ejected for misconduct, which gave SHS a little boost.

 

However, it was the Yellow Jackets’ four runs in the fourth inning with no outs that gave AHS the lead that was the decider.

 

“Ashford’s got a good baseball team,” Fussell said. “Every game we play from this point on is important because we’ve got to get better.”

 

Straughn (10-8, 0-1 in Class 4A, Area 3) continued its area series against Ashford on Monday, and scores and stats were not available when The Star-News went to press last night.