Oakville Falls in the Seventh to Lafayette

Three first-inning runs were not enough to defeat Lafayette, as Oakville baseball lost 4-3 in the seventh inning Tuesday at home.

“I told the kids after the game, you can’t focus on the seventh inning, but what we could have done in innings one through six that (Lafayette’s William) DuPont isn’t the tying run, the leadoff hitter coming to the plate,” Oakville coach Rich Sturm said.

Oakville started strong with a 3-1 lead in the first inning after four consecutive hits. Senior C.J. Martin went four-for-four at the plate with all singles.

Lafayette scored in the third inning after a triple by Blake Hoover allowed Kyle Hanlon to score.

Three innings went scoreless where both teams left batters on base.

Tiger pitcher Nick Hummel had six strikeouts, two walks and one hit batter for the night.

“Nick has gotten better with each start... he did a good job, that’s a good line-up that he held down,” Sturm said. “I wish he could have gotten the win.”

Senior Brian Whaley took over for Hummel in the seventh, and overthrew a ball to first on a bunt, giving Lafayette two runners on base.

After an Adam Echele hit that went off the glove of Oakville’s Corey Chambliss, Lafayette tied the game.

Hoover knocked in the winning run when he flied out to left field, allowing Hanlon to tag up for the lead.

Oakville started seventh at the top of the line-up, with singles by Tommy Breunig and Martin. They had a chance with two runners on base.

But Lafayette held on, outing Greg Gralike at first.

“I think there’s times in the game where we have opportunities to do things and we’re not doing it,” Sturm said. “We’re just not where we’re supposed to be.”

Oakville falls to 5-16, losing their ninth game in a row. The slump started with .

The team has come up one run short in five of its 16 losses.

“We’ve only given up 27 more runs than we’ve scored and for being 11 games under .500, that tells you how close it’s been,” Sturm said. “Generally, teams that are 11 games under .500 have given up 40, 50, 60 more runs than they’ve scored.”

The Tigers play at Lafayette Wednesday at 4:15 p.m. before facing Kirkwood on Friday.