Dayton Boys Struggle Against Indians

TOUCHET - The Day- ton baseball team struggled and fell against the Touchet Indians, losing 4-1 Tuesday night.

The Bulldogs had a fight- ing chance until late in the game when the Indians ran away with the score. The Bulldogs brought their first runner in during the fifth in- ning, tying the score up 1-1. Later, an error in the outfield allowed two runs to come around for the Indians and put the Bulldogs behind.

"We made some mistakes there and they turned a single into a home run," head coach Sal Benavides said.

The Bulldogs struggled to regain confidence and missed out on run opportunities late in the game when they could have tied up the score.

The experience gap be- tween the seasoned juniors and younger players became more apparent as the game progressed, the coach said.

Benavides noted he had one player he called to bunt but the batter didn't even at- tempt it, which would have likely brought two runs in for the next batter. The head coach said he is still teaching the kids that coach signals are not merely suggestions.

Runners did make it on base, though, which Benavides said he was happy about. One of the biggest struggles for the team now is just working with new play- ers who haven't played the game before.

Beside even fielding the ball, younger players don't know what to expect in dif- ferent situations, still unsure when to run and relying on coach signals to advance, recognition of which Benavides said usually comes too late.

But Benavides said there has been improvement.

"They're hitting the ball and they're getting better at practice so I can't complain," he said. "We're learning."