El Reno High School's bats were about as cold as the temperature outside as the Indians opened the 2010 baseball season last week on the short end of a twinbill to Deer Creek.
The setback puts El Reno in an early 0-2 hole, not only for its season record, but also in the Suburban Conference's North Division.
El Reno hosted the Antlers for the first game of the series, giving up five runs in the final four innings of a 7-2 loss. The Indians hit the road for the second game, allowing nine runs in the second inning of a 15-2 loss.
The Indians left 11 runners stranded in the opening game, including bases-loaded situations in the first and third innings. El Reno left two runners unaccounted in both the fourth and sixth innings.
Deer Creek took an early 2-0 lead before El Reno tied the game in the bottom of the second inning. Hunter Freeman and Robert Irion drew free passes before advancing on a sacrifice bunt by Kail Cole.
Catcher Brady Good singled home Freeman to make it a 2-1 game. Irion, who stopped a third on the play, scored on an errant pickoff throw to first.
Austin Ferguson and Tyler Palmer singled in the fourth before being stranded. Cameron Hill (walk) and Ferguson (single) were left on board in the sixth.
Ferguson led the five-hit attack for EHS with a 2-for-3 effort. Hill had a single in the loss, but had two of the Indians 15 strikeouts.
Palmer shouldered the loss, scattering seven runs (six earned) and 10 hits over four and a third innings of work. The right-hander fanned three batters and walked two. Dillon Nuzum threw two and two-thirds innings in relief, issuing seven hits and a walk to a pair of strikeouts.
In the road loss, Ferguson allowed eight runs (six earned) over an inning and a third of work and eventually took the loss. The right-hander allowed five hits and three walks to one strikeout. Kurt Shemanske lasted a third of an inning in relief, issuing a run off a hit, two walks and a strikeout.
Jordan Vaverka was tagged for three earned runs off four hits and a walk while striking out one in an inning and a third. Cole tossed one inning, yielding three runs on two hits and a pair of walks. He fanned two batters.
Both El Reno runs came in the top of the first inning as Cole singled and Hill singled, but Cole was thrown out at second base. Following a Ferguson strikeout, Palmer tripled in Hill before scoring himself on a center field error.
El Reno had four hits in the loss, with Shemanske singling in the second inning but was left stranded – one of three unaccounted for by the Indians.
The Indians made 18 trips to the plate in the five-inning abbreviated affair, striking out 10 times.