One bad inning gives Mantas second loss
SUN PHOTO BY STEVE KNAPP, sbigdaddyknapp@aol.com
Mantas starting pitcher Christian Kunkle fires to the plate in the first inning in the Lemon Bay High School JV baseball team's 10-2 loss to North Port on Feb. 22. Kunkle was pulled in the fifth inning trailing 3-2 after getting his pitch count into the 80s.
SUN PHOTO BY STEVE KNAPP, sbigdaddyknapp@aol.com
Lemon Bays Sam Steyer checks his swing on a pitch at the ankles in the fifth inning. Steyer led off the inning with a single but was stranded on third in the 10-2 loss at North Port.
“Hee Haw,” the old TV show from the ’60s and ’70s, had a song on it every week called “Gloom, Despair and Agony on Me.” One line went, “If it weren’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all.” That fits the Lemon Bay High School JV baseball team, as they seem to have gotten every bad break in their first two road games.
The Mantas had their hands full in their first week of play with three games on the schedule. They also had three games in the second week. After an opening day home win over Bayshore 9-3, they had a brutal schedule of five straight games on the road. They lost a 6-5 heartbreaker in their first road game in the seventh inning to Port Charlotte.
