Photo by Andrew Grimm Shadyside's Nathan Beck fires a pitch Tuesday during the Tigers' road game against the Steubenville Catholic Crusaders.

STEUBENVILLE — Baseball can be a roller coaster ride.

Just 24 hours after celebrating getting the first victory for their new head coach, the Catholic Central baseball team was on the opposite side of things as visiting Shadyside came to Vaccaro Field and handed the Crusaders a 10-4 loss.

Of the 10 runs, seven of the Tigers batters that crossed home plate got on base by either a walk or an error. Central had four errors in the game and issued eight free passes.

“We had an exciting day (Monday) where everything was working in our favor and (Tuesday) we made everything difficult on ourselves,” Central head coach Andrew Henry said. “Whether it offensively or defensively, we certainly had our struggles. Their pitcher did a good job of throwing strikes and staying around the zone, that is what we did (Monday) but struggled with (Tuesday). There’s no secret to high school baseball, you live and die by throwing strikes and they did a better job of that.

“Whether it was a walk, an error, they had seven hits, they had the mix it takes to put up 10 runs. The free passes and errors were a big challenge to try to overcome.”

It was far from a clean game for the Tigers, too, as they committed seven errors. However, they did enough with the bats to take advantage of the mistakes the other way and even their early season record at 2-2.

“I told the kids normally it’s impossible to win a game with seven errors,” Shadyside head coach Jason Collins said. “That is something we have got to clean up. But, we were hitting the ball well and able to make up for it. I’m just glad we found a way to overcome it. It kind of feels like we snuck one out with all of the errors.

“We did a good job of capitalizing on their mistakes, you have to take them when they give them. If you’re going to have 6-7 errors, you definitely have to take advantage of every opportunity you get. We got lucky that we did.”

Shadyside freshman Nathan Beck made his first varsity start a good one, tossing a complete game. He overcame the miscues behind him with six strikeouts and just one walk. Just one of the four runs charged to him were earned.

“For his first varsity start, he threw really well,” Collins said. “I’m proud of him, he kept his composure.”

After the Tigers jumped ahead early with a three-run top of the first, Central starter Matty Jones settled in and went 4 1/3 innings, allowing just one more run in the next three innings. In the fifth, though, he walked back-to-back batters, ending his day. The Crusaders needed two more arms to get out of that inning, giving up four runs in the process and issuing another three walks and committing an error with two outs.

Jojo Corabi settled things down, going the final 2 2/3 with a pair of strikeouts and without issuing a walk.

Shadyside got two hits and an RBI from Ryan Collins, an RBI double from Trey Weight and an RBI each from Trenton Marling and Beck in building a 10-1 lead going to the bottom of the seventh.

The Crusaders put together a bit of a rally — aided by three two-out errors by the Tigers — to bring three runs across, Zach Bryan tallying an RBI single. It was too little, too late however.

Kyran Busic did finish with a pair of hits in the game for Central.

“I like the fight we showed at the end,” Henry said. “There for a couple innings we were dragging a little bit … getting behind the eight-ball early kind of took the wind out of our sails a little bit but they battled back. Once things start clicking and we get some baserunners, we get excited. We’re a young team, there is going to be some ups and downs, but I can’t fault the effort, they gave it everything they had.”

UP NEXT

Shadyside: Takes a trip to rival Caldwell today.

Catholic Central: Has a break for Easter before starting a seven-game road swing at Oak Glen on April 6.