Sussex Central pulls away from Charles City in latter innings

Charles City’s Joseph Simms makes a connection on a pitch that would allow him to score later in the inning.

Robb Johnson photo

Entering year two of his tenure, Charles City Head Baseball Coach Michael Logan knows the rebuilding process is one that will take time. And while his team flashed a ton of potential, for now the learning curve is one that his youthful team will have to get used to.

Charles City’s Panthers fell to the visiting Sussex Central Tigers 18-8 in the Mar. 13 home opener for the Panthers.

Sussex Central scored two runs in the first inning, followed by a third in the second inning courtesy of Edward Birchett’s double. Charles City settled down afterwards, with Gavin Stewart singling home Joseph Simms for the Panthers first run of the year. In the bottom of the third, Joshua Smith’s connection drove in another run, cutting the visitors’ advantage to one (3-2).

But the Tigers would not allow the hosts to claw back into the contest so easily. Four runs in the top of the fourth stretched the lead out for the visitors. And despite Charles City’s Damian Barnes Jr. and Aidan Stewart adding two in the bottom of the fourth, the Tigers would tack on more runs to take a 17-4 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. Charles City rallied for four more runs in the bottom of the frame, but one additional score at the top of the final inning was enough for Sussex to capture the victory.

After the contest, Logan praised his team’s performance despite being shorthanded.

“We had a decent performance,” he said, commenting on how he can’t really simulate a real game with few numbers available. “We had nine out there with three freshmen, so we are getting better, and we got better once the game got going. We should do better with our next game against this team.”

Charles City falls to 0-1 on the season.