MUSKEGON - It’s been a really difficult week for the Reeths-Puffer baseball team.
Last Friday the Rockets headed into their game against Allendale with a perfect 10-0 record, then lost by a pretty ugly score.
During the week the Rockets lost all three games in an O-K Blue conference series against Wyoming, and suddenly had a four-game losing streak.
They appeared to be back on track on Friday night with a 5-0 lead over Fruitport in a special "Friday Night Lights” game at Muskegon’s historic Marsh Field.
But everything went wrong in the top of the seventh, when Fruitport suddenly piled up 10 runs and beat Reeths-Puffer 10-5.
Despite all of that, R-P head coach Butch Attig was calm and philosophical after the game.
“It’s baseball,” Attig said. “It was that one bad inning. It’s tough. I know it’s going to keep me awake tonight, after we played such a great game for six innings then fell apart.
“I’ve been around this game a long, long time, and I know you have to be able to turn those six good innings into a positive, and that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to talk about the positive things we did and some of the small things we didn’t do."
Attig said the disappointing loss did not completely ruin the night for the Rockets, who appreciated the chance to play under the lights at Marsh Field once again.
Reeths-Puffer will return to action at home on Tuesday against undefeated Zeeland East in an O-K Green matchup.
“Around the fifth inning, I had them stand and look around at the packed stands, at everything going on at Marsh Field, a hundred-year-old field,” the coach said. “We had the opportunity to play here, so it was a good night for us, up until the seventh inning. Now we have to find a way to take a deep breath and get ready for Tuesday."
The Rockets opened the scoring in the fourth inning with a run on a Fruitport error.
The game remained 1-0 until the bottom of the sixth when Reeths-Puffer added four runs on six hits. Holden Earnest and Catcher Earnest each had RBI singles while David Wilheim knocked in two runs with a hit.
R-P’s five-run lead was only three outs away from becoming a victory, but the Trojans had other ideas in the seventh inning.
Fruitport put up 10 runs with five hits, three walks, two errors and a hit batter.
Cody Nash produced the first run for the Trojans with a bases loaded walk to cut the deficit to 5-1.
Dillon McWilliams followed with another bases-loaded RBI walk, then Braxton Ward hit an RBI sacrifice fly to left field to make the score 5-3 with Fruitport down to its last out.
That last out didn’t come for a while.
Christian Kennedy singled to reload the bases for Ryan Bosch, who promptly slashed a 1-1 pitch through the middle of the infield for a two-run single to complete a five-run comeback and tie the game.
“The Trojans continued to pour it on after Bosch’s hit, taking advantage of an R-P error to score two runs and take a 7-5 lead, then adding runs on an RBI single by Andrew Spyke and a two-run triple by Jax Flynn.
The Rockets were led by Catcher Earnest with three hits, including a double, and an RBI. Wilhelm had one hit and two RBIs, while Chase Smith, Garrett Chesney and Jack Yonkman each added one hit for R-P.
Holden Earnest suffered the loss from the mound, giving up five runs on four hits in 1/3 of an inning. Reeths-Puffer starter Brayden Mitchelson allowed five runs on four hits while striking out four batters in 6 2/3 innings.
