By Byron Beers/Staff Writer

It was El Reno’s hitting that had been inconsistent through the first eight games of the baseball season.

On Saturday against Blanchard at Hub Reed Complex, it proved to be the Indians pitching that unraveled.

Head coach Jason Looper’s club jumped out to a quick start offensively, but the combination of four pitchers struggled with control problems as Blanchard ran away with a 14-2 victory.

The Indians, which slipped to 4-5 overall, didn’t get much production from starter Chandon Vieweg or relievers Trendon Johnson, Joe Halley and Caleb Koos.

The four of them combined to issue six walks and hit six batters. Of those 12 baserunners, seven crossed home plate.

The Lions finished with 10 hits. They scored seven of their runs off seven hits, while their other seven runs came on just three hits.

“Obviously we struggled to throw strikes,” Looper said. “The six walks and six hit batters just came back to kill us.

“They didn’t just pound the ball against us. We gave them runs. We also left too many 0-2 pitches out over the plate.”

“We never could recover and get back into the game,” Looper added.

El Reno will spend the final portion of its spring break by playing in the Durant tournament, which will start Thurs-day and conclude on Saturday. Looper hopes by getting away this will help his team.

“We’re hoping we can go down to Durant and get things turned around,” Looper said. “Hopefully by getting away this will help us.
“We need to start swinging the bats better. We’re struggling with the curve ball and we need some other kids to step up on the mound besides our top two guys.”

The Indians didn’t exactly tear the cover off the ball offensively as they finished with just four hits.

Senior Clint Maune accounted for the only runs when he belted a two-run homer over the right-field wall in the first inning. Maune’s shot followed a walk to Halley that led off the inning.

Trendon Johnson had the only other extra base hit with a double in the second inning. Jarrod Cole added a single in the third and Halley reached on a single during the fifth.

El Reno led 2-1 after the opening frame before Blanchard responded with 13 runs over the next three innings, including seven in the third and four more in the fourth.

Vieweg took the loss as the starter. He combined to work in two full innings, allowing six earned runs. He issued three walks, hit three batters and struck out one.

Johnson entered in the second inning and pitched 1.3 innings. He gave up seven runs on seven hits, while striking out one and plunking three batters.

In 1.3 innings, Halley surrendered one run on one hit – a solo home run during the fourth. Halley finished with a pair of strikeouts.
Koos faced two batters in the fifth where he allowed a double and recorded a strikeout.