A 10-run top of the sixth inning propelled the Cedar Springs Red Hawks to a 17-4 victory over the FHC JV baseball team, its first loss of the year.

“It was a tough loss for us for sure,” sophomore Aidan O’Meara said. “I think we just need to realized that we really just had one bad inning and that was what cost us in the end.”

To try to continue their run of dominant pitching performances, the Rangers sent sophomore Evan Van Artsen to the mound. In the top of the first inning, an error and 3 hits by Cedar Springs gave them a 2-0 early advantage. But after a walk from Aidan and a double from sophomore Maguire Mahacek, the Rangers struck back for 2 of their own, thanks to a pair of sacrifice flies by sophomores Nathan Sigg and Logan Vanlente.

“Our bats were able to get going early,” head coach Jimmy Murray said. “But we just didn’t seem to have them for a lot of the game.”

After both teams went scoreless in the second inning, the Red Hawks struck for 4 runs in the top of the third. Cedar Springs was able to string together 3 hits and the Rangers had a few errors; Evan would be taken out after the inning, as he allowed 9 hits and struck out 1 batter in his three innings of work. The Rangers were able to get hits from both Nathan and sophomore Sean Macleod to start off the inning but were only able to get 1 run back as they trailed 6-3 after three innings.

In the top of the fourth inning, the Rangers sent sophomore southpaw Alec Gast to the hill, and he was able to throw a smooth fourth inning. In the bottom of the inning, Aidan was able to walk, as he did three times in the game, and he was driven in by Nathan on a line-drive base hit. The Rangers were just able to score the 1 run, as they still trailed 6-4 through four innings of play.

“We didn’t give up any runs in the third or fourth innings, which was big,” Nathan said. “But it just felt like we couldn’t get over the hump. We were able to score 1 in both innings, but it should have been more.”

After allowing just 1 run in the fifth, the wheels started to fall off the wagon for FHC in the sixth. Alec got very wild on the mound, as after hitting a batter he threw 3 wild pitches in the same at-bat, resulting in Cedar Springs scoring twice without putting the ball in play. The Rangers turned to sophomore Jonah Spates, but it didn’t matter, as the Red Hawk onslaught was on. They went on to score 10 runs in the top of the sixth and take care of the Rangers in the bottom of the inning, winning 17-4 in a mercy rule victory.

“Our defense let us down tonight,” Murray said. “We had multiple errors and wild pitches in that sixth inning. But our guys need to keep their chin up and just move on to next week.”

The loss drops the Rangers to 6-1 on the year. They will next be in action on Monday for a doubleheader when they host Ottawa Hills.

“I think we understood we were not going to go undefeated this year,” Aidan said, “but it’s still tough to lose. But a positive is that we were still able to win the series.”