Photo and article from Laieke Abebe

What was a competitive game to start turned in the wrong direction for Goldsboro in the fourth inning.

The Cougars could not get out of their own way in a 20-8, six-inning defeat against Clinton on Thursday.

This comes after a 4-2 road loss to the Dark Horses on Tuesday. Timely two-out hitting and errors led to an 11-run fourth inning that broke the game open for the visiting Dark Horses.

“The score isn’t reflective of how competitive we were,” Goldsboro head coach Danny Merritt said. “We’re a young team and normally, young teams make mistakes. There are still a lot of things we did well especially after we went down early.”

Clinton began the game with a three-run opening inning. A run-scoring groundout by Cole McFatter opened the scoring for the Cougars.

Clinton would stretch their lead in the top of the second, but Goldsboro continued to keep pace. Peyton Wilkins and Braxton Morton recorded back-to-back RBI singles to put the Cougars up, 5-4.

Then, the Dark Horses began their fourth inning. A two-out, two-run triple by Payson King tied the contest at six. From there, Carter King recorded an RBI double to put Clinton ahead, 8-6.

Later in the inning after a bases-loaded walk, Connor Johnson cleared them all with a double to make it a six-run lead. Ultimately, the Dark Horses got into mercy-rule territory with a two-run single from Johnson in the top of the sixth.

Goldsboro is now 3-5 overall and 3-5 in East Central 2A conference play. Clinton improved to 6-3 and 6-3 in the conference with its victory. The Cougars face James Kenan in a home-and-home conference battle starting June 1.

“We’re in a tough position heading into our bye week,” Merritt said. “The team has worked really hard and some of our guys are seeing the ball well. Hopefully, we can bounce back with a good week of practice so we’ll be ready to go against James Kenan.”