Arlington baseball losing patience at the plate

SNOHOMISH — For all the swinging the Eagles have been doing, they’re having hard time getting hits lately.

That much was the case in a 7-2 loss to Snohomish April 4, when Arlington struck out 11 times.

“It’s pretty easy, we’ve got to swing the bats better,” said Eagles manager Eric Heinz. “Our approach just isn’t very good. We’re not taking pitches, instead we’re just trying to win the game with one at-bat.”

The Eagles have had a difficult time at the plate for the last two games, as they’ve racked up 25 strikeouts in 14 innings. But a lack of production doesn’t account for losses. In this case, the Panthers came out of the box with four runs in the first inning.

“They jumped on us early,” said Heinz. “And (starter) Austin Taylor was okay today, he was mixing his pitches, but that’s baseball.”

There were a few gems in the game for Arlington, however, starting with shortstop Clay Trushinsky who went 2-for-3 with a double and a home run.

“Clay had a great day at the plate for us, and on the field,” said Heinz. “He’s becoming one of our more reliable hitters, and Austin Taylor hit well too.”

Taylor went 2-for-3.

Moreover, Heinz said he was impressed with the ends of his lineup in Justin Shepard and Colton Hordyk.

“I thought they did a great job of putting the ball in play and forcing the issue. They showed the kind of approach we need to start having,” he said.

Hordyk finished with one hit and a stolen base while Shepard had one hit and a run scored.

The Eagles scored their second run in what looked like promising rally in the fifth inning, when they had runners on first and second with just one out. Tanner Goheen had an RBI single, but a pair of strikeouts later ended the threat.

The loss was Arlington’s first of the season to a Wesco North team, dropping them to 0-1 in conference play and 2-3 overall.

“We played really well in the first couple of games, and now we’re making mistakes that we can’t have,” Heinz said. “You can make excuses that we haven’t been able to be on the field because of weather very much, but we’re not the only ones.”

The Eagles play Lake Stevens at home April 13.

Contact Arlington Times Sports Reporter Travis Sherer at tsherer@marysvilleglobe.com or 360 659-1300 Ext. 5054.

Comment on this story.

COMMENTING RULES: We encourage an open exchange of ideas in our online community, but we ask you to follow our guidelines for respecting community standards. In a nutshell, don't say anything you wouldn't want your mother to read. Please see our FAQ if you have questions or concerns about using Facebook to comment.