Early Errors Cost Syosset in Conf. Baseball Opener

Between the errors and what Syosset baseball coach Pat Fitzgerald dubbed the "errors of omission," the Braves were down to Plainview JFK 8-0 Tuesday before they started their second turn at-bat.

"You make a couple of mistakes like that and it's hard to make that much up," Fitzgerald said. He proved to be right. A couple of rallies in the middle innings weren't enough as Syosset dropped its conference opener 10-7 at home.

Technically only three of the eight runs were unearned, but Fitzgerald felt at least a couple more could have been prevented. Tommy Morris' four-inning relief stint slowed the Hawks attack, and Syosset scored three in the third inning and four in the fourth to make the final innings competitive.

James Cohan's double in the bottom of the third finally plated Syosset's first run. He subsequently scored on a Plainview error, and added an RBI hit and run scored in the fourth. He also succeeded Morris on the mound without giving up a run.

That set the stage for the bottom of the seventh, in which Syosset loaded the bases on two walks and a hit batsman, but couldn't push anybody across the plate.