The Bushnell-Prairie City High School baseball team dropped a pair of hard-fought road contests in games played this week.
On Monday, the Spartans returned to Prairieland Conference play with a road contest at Havana.
The Ducks put together three-run rallies in the fifth and sixth innings on the way to securing a 7-1 victory.
Havana improved to 7-3 on the season, notching its sixth consecutive win in the process. The Ducks also improved to 3-0 in Prairieland play.
Havana scored once in the bottom of the second to take the lead. B-PC knotted the contest in the top of the fourth when Thomas Anderson homered to left.
The score remained 1-1 until the bottom of the fifth.
Oscar Jones and Jack Turner reached on hits before Carter Brooks homered to give Havana a 4-1 lead.
In the sixth, a single and an error put two runners on base for the Ducks. Lukas Miller, the No. 9 hitter in the batting order, delivered the team’s second three-run home run to left in as many innings, upping the lead to 7-1.
B-PC finished with five hits and committed two errors, while Havana finished with seven hits and one error.
Connor Palm had two hits, including a double, while Miles Strode and Ryan Adler added one hit each for the Spartans, who dropped to 0-4 in Prairieland play.
Anderson was also the pitcher of record for B-PC, allowing seven runs, six earned, on seven hits in six innings.
He struck out six, walked one and hit four batters.
Aiden Pratt also had a hit and a run batted in for Havana.
The Ducks used three pitchers. Turner pitched three innings, allowing one hit while striking out five.
Bradyn Willing pitched two innings, allowing one run on two hits with two strikeouts to earn the win.
Jayden Weaver pitched the final two scoreless innings, allowing two hits while striking out four.
On Tuesday, the Spartans made the trip to Toulon for a non-conference contest against Stark County.
In a game between two teams looking for their first win, Stark County scored the decisive run in the bottom of the sixth, holding on for a 6-5 victory.
B-PC dropped to 0-13, while Stark County moved to 1-11.
Both teams scored once in the opening inning before B-PC added a run in the top of the second in taking the lead.
Stark County put together two-run rallies in the third and fourth innings in taking a 5-2 lead. But the Spartans scored three runs in the top of the sixth, taking advantage of five walks and one hit batsman.
But the Rebels used a single, walk and double play in scoring the go-ahead run in the bottom of the inning.
Both teams finished with seven hits. B-PC committed four errors, compared to one for Stark County.
Strode had two hits and two runs batted in for B-PC. Adler also had two hits and a run scored.
Palm had a hit with one run scored and one batted in, while Anderson also had a hit and a run scored.
Braxton Kempf had one hit with Jayden Powell and Ethan Hyde both scoring once.
Palm pitched six innings, allowing six runs, three earned, on seven hits. He struck out seven, walked three and hit a batter.
Ben Browning, Wyatt Snider and Chase Holmstrom each scored twice for Stark County. Holmstrom and Browning both recorded two hits with Browning and Snider recording one RBI each.
Kaizer Down picked up the victory in relief.
In 1.2 innings, he allowed one earned run on one hit. He struck out three, walked four and hit a batter.
Landon Ouart pitched 5.1 innings, allowing four runs, three earned, on six hits. He struck out six, walked four and hit a batter.
The Spartans are scheduled to take part in the Tiger Baseball Showcase Friday and Saturday in Beardstown.
Placed in the Orange Division, B-PC is slated to play twice Friday, facing Staunton at 4 p.m. and Beardstown at 6p.m.
The Spartans will play one final contest Saturday either at noon or 2 p.m. against one of the following teams from the Black Division - LVC, West Hancock or Carrollton.
