The Bats hung tough against the undefeated Lightning, trailing only 4-3 after four innings, before falling, 11-3, on Sunday at Behm Park in Grayslake, Ill.  The game was originally scheduled as a 4 p.m. contest at Plote Field but was moved to Behm Park when heavy rains the night before had turned Plote into the Field of Streams.

Starting pitcher Matt Weiss struggled with the heat and three-week layoff in the first inning allowing 3 runs on only 1 hit with 3 walks and an error. He settled in enough to end the inning with two strike outs, but had to leave the game after just one inning of work.

The Bats scored 3 runs of their own in the second to knot the score at 3-3.  After consecutive singles by Bob Gurchak, Ron Skrabacz and Weiss loaded the bases Jeff McClellan blasted a ball off the 300-feet sign in center field to drive in 2 runs.  McClellan stretched the sure double into a single thanks to a premature home run trot.  Bill Quoss followed with a sacrifice fly to left field to score Weiss who had advanced to third on McClellan’s tape-measure single.

Those 3 runs proved to be all the offense the Bats would generate as they collected only one more hit —a two-out single by Ken Kozlik in the fourth — over the last five innings.  It was Kozlik’s second hit of the game.  The only other player to reach base safely was Tony DiBlasi when he was hit by a pitch (again) in the sixth inning.

Left hander Bill Quoss pitched the last six innings for the Bats. The veteran southpaw allowed only an unearned run in the third inning before the Lightning struck for 6 runs in the fifth to take a commanding 10-3 lead.  The Lightning scored another unearned run in the seventh to finish with an 11-3 victory.

After five games the Bats record now stands at 1-4.  While the Bats have scored 25 runs in their five games they have surrendered 10 or more runs in each of those games.  A more potent and consistent offense and a stingier defense is a must if the Bats are to reach the .500 mark by season’s end.

The Bats next game is Sunday, June 21 at 10:00 a.m. against the Yard Dogs at Plote Field in Lake in the Hills, Ill.