Athens Bible Trojan Drake Richter runs towards home plate in the matchup against the St. John Paul II Catholic Falcons on Monday at Tanner High School.

PREP BASEBALL

Errors proved to be costly for the Athens Bible School Trojans on Monday in their doubleheader against the St. John Paul Catholic II Falcons at Tanner High School. It was a struggle all-around for the Trojans in the first game — not getting a hit, making six errors in the field and ultimately losing by a final score of 14-1.

The second game was much more competitive, but errors once again proved costly in their 6-4 defeat, as they committed 11 total in the game.

SJP’s Elijah Shelton pitched seven full innings in the first game, giving up zero hits, one run, two walks and six strikeouts. The Falcons scored in every inning except the fourth and added four more runs to their total in the seventh.

Athens Bible’s only run came in the fifth. Eli Olree led off the inning by getting hit by a pitch. Olree advanced to third in the next two at-bats. Drake Richter drove him in after hitting a ground ball that was misplayed by Falcon shortstop Paul Andrzajewski Jr.

“I hope people realize they have 80 kids in each class and we have 20,” Athens Bible head coach Bill Murrell said.

In the second game, the Trojans’ bats came alive throughout the game totaling 12 hits as a team despite the losing effort. Richter and Kacen Pierce led the attack with three hits each. Pierce, Connor Abernathy and Luke Thrasher each had one RBI.

The Falcons had a 5-4 advantage in the top of the seventh and increased their lead to 6-4 after a throwing error led to an eventual RBI single. That ended up being the final score, as the Trojans were unable to score in the bottom of the seventh.

Abernathy and Richter both pitched in the game. Abernathy threw two innings, gave up three runs with none of them earned. Richter also gave up three runs, but none of those were earned.

“It was a good experience, that’s all I can say,” Murrell said.