There were times Thursday when David Dinger walked from the third base coach’s box to his dugout with his head down. There were times too when he seemed to be studying the grass path he was wearing from his upside-down dugout bucket seat to the pitcher’s mound.
It has been that way most of the season for the veteran Lookout Valley baseball coach. If his team has been hitting — and that has been the rare occasion — then the Yellow Jackets’ fielding and pitching have abandoned them.
The two-game showing in their own Class A invitational tournament told the tale, leaving fans and players alike to wonder if the creases in Dinger’s brow and around his eyes were the lines of laughter or worry coupled with frustration.
The Jackets lost 8-4 in six innings to Friendship Christian and then took a sloppy 15-8, three-inning win over Columbia Academy.
When asked to dissect the Jackets’ first-game shortcomings, Dinger grimaced and said, “It would probably be quicker to tell you the things we did well.”
Down 2-1 through 3 1/2 innings, the Jackets came apart at the seams, abandoning what had been good pitching. An error led to the Commandos’ first run, and the third was a virtual repeat.
“We gave Friendship another chance and they hit it,” Dinger said. “We had a chance to get out of an inning and didn’t take it, and they scored six runs.”
The big blow was a three-run double by Dylan Boyd.
Caleb Cass homered, Tyler Penland added two hits and Aaron O’Dell had one, but those four hits were the extent of the Yellow Jackets’ offense. They scored three runs in the fifth but left the bases loaded with three strikeouts.
In the second game, Lookout Valley scored eight first-inning runs with only two hits. The Jackets took advantage of an error, six walks and two hit batsmen from two Columbia pitchers.
They proceeded to let Columbia Academy back in the game with three errors, four walks and four hit batsmen in the three-inning game. They were fortunate that the Bulldogs were having similar difficulties.
“Most everybody has used or is saving their top pitchers for district games on Mondays and Tuesdays,” Dinger said. “That’s just the way it is with weekend tournaments.”
Lookout Valley went through five in the combined nine innings, three in the second game.
“We haven’t had any problems and then all of a sudden we can’t throw strikes. We struggled,” Dinger said.
He is hoping the hitting is coming around. The Jackets had eight hits in the second game including a grand slam from Ben Askren and two-hit games from Penland and Mathew Allison.
The Yellow Jacket Classic continues today and Saturday at Lookout Valley with the championship game tentatively scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday.