The Spartans pitching cost them in a game against one of the top teams in the state.

Bainbridge’s baseball team (12-4, 10-0 in Olympic League) fell to 4A school Jackson (12-4) 13-7 April 26, marking the Spartans’ first home loss of the season. The Spartans entered the matchup coming off a nine-game winning streak.

“[We wanted to] not have [as many] errors coming into the game,” Spartan catcher Henry Olsen said. “We did our best on flushing them to the early innings, [but] towards the fifth inning, we kind of got in our head.”

Bainbridge set the tone early with a deep RBI double to right field from third-baseman Will Rohrbacher, scoring first-baseman Duncan Bos, and a ground ball RBI single to right field from starting pitcher Braden French, scoring Rohrbacher and giving the Spartans a 2-0 lead.

French got off to a strong start on the mound, not allowing a hit within the first two innings.

Nonetheless, Jackson was able to get their first run on the board off an RBI single to left fielder Trey Thompson. Despite French’s strong start to the game, French let up two singles and hit a batter, prompting Spartan coach Thomas Henshaw to sub in Eli Tracy to finish out the top of the third.

Tracy loaded the bases for the Timberwolves and hit a batter with a pitch, forcing in another run for Jackson and tying the game at two apiece.

Despite the momentum seemingly swaying to Jackson, Rohrbacher hit his fourth home run of the season and gave the lead back to the Spartans. Catcher Tenzing Dikman hit a single to right field, scoring French and giving the Spartans a four-two lead at the end of the third.

“They’re a 4A team, we’re a 2A team,” Spartan assistant coach Eddie Bignold said. “I’m really happy with how we held our own for the first four innings of the game.”

The Spartans themselves got the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth with Dom D’Amico, Parker Kruglik, and McCrea Curfman all finding themselves on base with no outs. A wild pitch sent D’Amico home, giving Bainbridge the lead back at five-four.

The scoring continued for the Timberwolves after a Bainbridge error drove two additional runs home, giving Jackson the largest lead of the game for either squad at three, 8-5. Spartans Curfman and A.J. Larsen were walked, forcing in two runs and making the score 8-7 by the end of the fifth.

The pitching struggles continued for the Spartans in the top of the sixth with Toby Kessler walking home another run. The Timberwolves followed that up with a home run, increasing Jackson’s lead to 12-7 by the end of the sixth inning, leaving Bainbridge only one more opportunity to come back for the win.

D’Amico, the sixth Spartan pitcher on the day, let up one additional run before getting Bainbridge out of the inning with a six-run deficit to attempt to overcome. Both Kessler and Larsen hit singles, but the Spartans ultimately fell short in the end.

“Having six guys come in to pitch wasn’t the game plan, but we can only control what we can control,” Bignold said.