STERLING – The Whiteside Wildcats pounced on Palmer with a three-run first inning Wednesday evening at Newman High School, and kept the runs coming through the fourth inning.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have the defense to match and lost 12-8 under the lights on their home field.

[ Photos from Whiteside Wildcats vs. Palmer semi-pro baseball ]

Whiteside second baseman Ryan Pitzer got things moving in the bottom of the first, hammering a leadoff double deep into right field. Pitcher Bryce Rosenow then blooped a single to center field, and shortstop Chase Chappell followed with a sacrifice fly to shallow left field, scoring Pitzer for a 1-0 lead.

Third baseman Jaime Miner and catcher Nick Pepper reached on back-to-back errors; Rosenow scored on Pepper’s for a 2-0 lead, and Miner came home for a 3-0 lead on an errant pickoff attempt of Pepper at second base by the Palmer catcher.

“I thought that we played pretty good all-around. I think the other team hit the ball really well; they did stuff really well when guys were in scoring position,” Chappell said. “And honestly, maybe they just had more chances at that than we did. But I thought we played pretty good today. Next game we can come out with a win.”

Palmer scored on a two-out single after a leadoff double to draw within 3-1 in the top of the second, but Whiteside had answers early. The Wildcats took a four-run lead in the bottom of the second on a Chappell two-out, two-run homer to right field.

Palmer cut it to 5-2 with a two-out infield RBI single in the top of the third, worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the third, and scored six runs in the top of the fourth for an 8-5 lead.

A one-out RBI single scored the first run, and a two-out RBI single scored the next one, making it a 5-4 margin. Palmer took and 8-5 lead with a grand slam to left field.

“Definitely get ahead earlier in counts,” Rosenow said about where it went wrong. “Got behind, gave up a grand slam, terrible scene.”

Whiteside tied it 8-8 in the bottom of the fourth with a three-run rally. Pitzer set the table once again with a two-out single to right field, Rosenow then singled to scored Pitzer, and Chappell doubled deep into right field to bring in Rosenow. Miner reached first on a dropped third strike as Chappell came home from third for the tying run.

Miner relived Rosenow on the mound in the top of the fifth, and struck out two batters in a scoreless inning to keep the game tied.

But in the top of the sixth, Palmer took the lead for good. A two-run single made it 10-8, then a fielder’s choice and wild pitch brought two more runners across.

Chappell finished the game a triple shy of the cycle, going 3 for 4 with four RBIs, including the two-run home run. Pitzer and Rosenow each went 2 for 4.

“We’ve been pretty good, actually. We beat the top team twice in a row, and we’ve played with them the other two games,” Chappell said about the season so far. “We started off like 4-0. I think we’re doing pretty good; I think we’ve got a really good shot at going pretty far in the tournament.”

“We’ve been a little up-and-down, I think. We played really good at first, and then we got beat by the Independence team,” Rosenow added. “And then we were playing well, and then we lost it again, but we’ll get it back. We’ll get back on track.”