The Cinnaminson Reds suffered their first setback of the 2016 season on Wednesday night with a 5-3 loss to Burlington Township at Memorial Park.
The Reds are now 2-1 on the young season.
Cinnaminson handed the ball to Clinton Hart tonight on the mound. Hart went just three innings as he struggled to find the strike zone.
Hart walked six batters in his three innings of work, including three in a two-run third inning for Burlington Township. Township picked up their first two runs off a two-run single from Mark DuBree.
Township countered with Chase Thomas on the mound. Thomas went the distance, striking out eight en route to the 5-3 win.
“I think we just made too many mistakes,” manager Frank Sirolli said. “Too many errors led to runs. Before the errors happened, we walked a few guys tonight.
Troy Hunter relieved Hart to start the fourth inning and yielded the final three runs of the game for Township, all three of them unearned due to three errors in the inning from the Reds.
Hunter threw three more scoreless innings in relief to keep the game close.
“He’s (Hunter) done a great job so far for us, throwing strikes,” Sirolli said.
“We just have to catch the ball behind him. We have to get our defense squared away. He did a great job again just throwing strikes and using the fielders.”
Cinnaminson scored its first and only runs of the game in the bottom of the sixth and all three of them were unearned as Township committed two errors in the inning.
“We were sleeping at the plate for five innings,” Sirolli said. “We were playing with fire for three games now and we finally lost one.”
“Guys are just getting more comfortable as the game goes on. It’s been a year since most of these guys have hit. After they get a couple of at-bats under their belts they get comfortable. That’s why I think we’ve seen offense in the late innings.”
The Reds threat in the bottom of the sixth ended when Joe Sirolli was thrown at the plate trying to score from third on a wild pitch.
Cinnaminson put runners at second and third in the bottom of the seventh, but could not push across the tying runs, falling 5-3.
The Reds are home again on Sunday, May 22 at 7pm against Delran at Memorial Park.
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