BASEBALL: ‘Flat’ team drops game to Orange Coast

Palomar’s baseball team lost 6-1 against Orange Coast Tuesday at Myers Field, dragging their record down to 3-6 on the season.

Starting pitcher Cody Willingham only threw the first two innings of the game, allowing three runs. Two errors on Palomar’s defense allowed two runs to score in the second inning.

“We were not good,” Manager Buck Taylor said after an extended post-game team meeting. “We were flat. There was no sense of urgency.”

Reliever Callan Dawson allowed two runs in the top of the third with a ground-rule double and a sac fly. Palomar was forced to use a total of six pitchers in the game.

Palomar didn’t score a run until the bottom of the eighth. With one out, Casey Munoz singled, Audie Afenir walked and Nico Garbella singled to load the bases. Danny Hawksley was walked to drive in Palomar’s only run of the game. Josh Sabourin and Austin Muehring then both struck out swinging and left the inning with three potential runs on base.

“Those are two guys (Sabourin and Muehring) you have a lot of faith in,” Taylor said. “We’re not always going to get hits, but we always want to them to at least put the ball into play, and make an adjustment with two strikes.”

Palomar next plays at 2 p.m. Thursday at Santa Ana, a match-up the manager described as “tough.”

“I think our goal is just to go out and play well, win or lose, who cares,” Taylor said. “I just want these guys to play well and be inspired and compete a little better than we did today.”