By Chuck Reherman
Sports Editor
EDMOND – When you open the season with a team that will be a challenge, digging an early hole would not be the one thing you would want to do.
It just what Yukon did.
The Millers spotted Edmond North a five-run lead in the first three innings and couldn’t battle their way back in falling 6-3 to the Huskies at Edmond.
The Millers committed three errors that led to three runs at the start of the game. YHS had two runners on base in the first an third innings, but did not get a serious rally started until the fifth inning.
“Edmond North is a good team, but the whole idea is you can’t dig yourself into a big hole and they try to climb your way out of it,” Miller head coach Kevin James said. “I saw some good things, we made a few plays defensively, but we let a passed ball get by us that cost us a couple of bases.
“We clawed our way back into the game at the end and had guys on base,” he said. “We had some good things, Carson (Benge) came in a threw pretty well and Kobe (Flow) came in and swung the bat pretty well and got a bunt down.
“Carson also hit a couple of balls hard and something to build on. The whole idea for us is not digging a hole at the start of the game, a 5-0 deficit is something hard to come back from.”
Carson Pierce’s two-run scoring double in the first inning spotted North to a 2-0 lead. The Huskies scored on a passed ball in the second and scored two more on an error in the third for the 5-0 lead.
Benge’s two-run scoring double in the fifth inning cut the lead to 5-2. Matt Wilson had walked and Jett Lodes was hit by a pitch before Benge’s hit.
The Millers did get within 5-3 in the sixth on a sacrifice fly from Lodes, but North added an insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth on a Colby Entwistle RBI double.
“We had some good at bats against their pitchers, we just have to do something with it,” James said. “They are young, but they are a good bunch. You have to go out and play seven innings against anyone you stepped on the field with.
“It was a tough opener, we will go back to work and get ready for the next one,” he said. “It wasn’t a district game and that is what I told the players. It is all about us, they all matter and we will just get out and go back after it.”
Benge finished the game going 2-for-3 at the plate with two runs batted in.
