Western Boone Jr. - Sr. High School

It was a frustrating two games to kick off Sagamore Conference play for the Western Boone baseball team. After seeing a 6-0 lead slip away against North Montgomery in game one, the Stars fell behind early and couldn’t come back in game two in an 8-3 loss. "I am just extremely disappointed in our defense," Western Boone head coach Michael Nance said. "I felt coming into this season, that was going to be what I had to worry the least about and in the last 24 hours it's what I have had to worry the most about." Errors were the biggest culprit of the frustration with the Stars. After committing four errors leading to four unearned runs on Tuesday, the Stars committed two more on Wednesday, but had several other balls that landed for hits that could have been outs. Nance said it is something the Stars have to correct quickly. "We are just playing timid and no one wants the baseball," Nance said. "When it's hit at someone, you see their eyes get big and no one wants the ball right now." The Chargers scored in each of the first four innings, but it was a 4-spot in the third that did the most damage. Five of the first six reached on hits in the inning, leading to constant traffic and four runs. While the Chargers bats were hot, the Stars struggled to get going. The Stars didn’t get a hit until Levi Stewart’s single leading off the fifth and saw just 36 pitches in the first four innings. "I think he threw more first pitch curve balls than maybe we anticipated," Nance said. "But we are a team that is going to attack early and I am never going to fault my guys for getting in there and getting after it." Gavin Hawkins was 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI, and Owen Howe was 1-for-3 with two RBIs for the Stars. Levi Stewart scored two runs. Western Boone is back in action on Thursday against Sheridan. "The best part about high school baseball is that in about 20 hours, we get to play again," Nance said. "We aren't worried about conference right now or next week, we are looking at Sheridan tomorrow and hopefully starting to build some things back up." Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.