Photos and story by Adam Morris ’15 | Staff Writer and Staff Photographer

On Thursday, April 10 the varsity baseball team was defeated 5-4 in a close game against the University of Detroit Jesuit High School (U of D).

U of D jumped out to an early 1-0 lead but Justin McMann ‘15 quickly responded in the second inning by driving in a run to tie the game, but was thrown out at second base.  U of D then doubled and singled to go up 5-1  in the fifth inning.

“We did not play very good defense; we gave away runs,” said head coach Dan Griesbaum.  “We were not hitting the ball well and gave up free base runners due to wild pitches.”

Douglas Graham ‘16 had a great game pitching and Ron Williams ‘14 had a couple key hits,  Griesbaum said.

“Our pitchers need to throw more strikes consistently, and we need to get better overall in every aspect of our game,” Griesbaum said.

Griesbaum hopes to play U of D again in regionals if both teams win their district.

“We are sloppy and just not as focused as we should be four games into the regular season,” Zak Moyer ‘14 said.  “I don’t know how we’re going to bounce back from a 1-3 start, but I feel something really special in our locker room.”

South rallied back after Andrew Eaton ‘14 drove in two runs off a single narrowing the lead to 5-3 in the sixth inning.  McMann had another RBI after hitting a sacrifice grounder to score a runner and cut the lead to 5-4 in the last half of the seventh inning.

This rally was not enough and South fell to U of D 5-4 in the end.

“We have the talent to succeed we just need to hit much better and field more sharply,” said Eaton. “We have great hitters who need to swing the bat with more confidence in order to give our pitchers better run support.”

The team plays a doubleheader at North on Saturday, April 12 and hopes to improve their 1-3 record.

“We have as much physical talent as any other team, we just need to be mentally and psychologically ready every game,” Moyer said. “We are going to put it all together and make a lot of noise this year, mark my words.”