Neither fortune nor victory smiled upon the Porters Chapel Academy Eagles on Monday night.

Joseph Wolleson blooped a two-run single into center field in the top of the sixth inning to give Franklin Academy the lead, and it went on to beat PCA 6-4 in a District 5-AA game at PCA’s Pierce Field.

PCA scored three runs in the second inning to take a 3-0 lead, but Bradley McCullough lined into an inning-ending double play and the Eagles didn’t score again until the bottom of the seventh.

“That’s just baseball right there. We just are not adding runs. We’re struggling to score, and when we’re getting those opportunities we’re not adding,” PCA coach Wade Patrick said. “We’ve got to do a better job of putting the ball in play and creating stuff. The more you put it in play, the more chances of errors they’re going to have. Right now, we’re just making it easy on them.”

Bailey McMillian and McCullough both singled and scored runs for PCA (3-6-1, 0-1 District 5-AA), which only had three hits in the game. It used five walks in the second inning for its big early rally.

Franklin Academy got one run back in the fourth inning and another in the fifth. In the sixth, it had two on with two outs when Wolleson — the No. 8 hitter in the lineup — blooped his hit to center field to score both runners and put the Cougars ahead 4-3.

Colten Williams tripled in a run and scored on a double by Zane Dear Johnson in the seventh to make it 6-3.

“The pitcher did his job. They just bloop one that doesn’t make it to the outfield grass and they score two,” Patrick said. “We’re just giving too many outs in crucial situations.”

PCA and Franklin Academy will play again Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Franklin.

 

St. Al 8, Riverfield 0

Casey Griffith scattered four hits and struck out four in a complete-game victory as St. Aloysius beat Riverfield Academy in its District 3-AAA opener.

Will Pierce had two hits, including a double, and two RBIs for St. Al.

Griffith helped his own cause with an RBI single, while Kieran Theriot, Garrett Breithaupt and Rett Verhine also had RBI singles.

Lane Hynum added a double for the Flashes, who will play Riverfield again Tuesday at 5 p.m. at Bazinsky Field.

It’s the second of three meetings between the teams this week. They’ll play one last time on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. in Rayville, La.

“It’s the first game we have put it all together,” St. Al coach Sid Naron said. “Casey commanded his fastball down, defensively we played really well. More than anything, the way this team competed from pitch one to the final out was something we can build off of.”