CATAWISSA R.R. - When the invitations go out for the District 4 baseball playoffs this weekend, there'll be none with Southern Columbia's name on it.
And that's rare. In fact, 1988 was the last time the Tigers missed out.
A 4-0 loss at Central Columbia on Wednesday put Southern on the ropes, leaving it two games to play and in need of two victories.
A 13-1 loss to Bloomsburg Thursday at home was the knockout punch. The best the Tigers (8-11) can finish, and for this they need a victory today at Montgomery, is a win away from qualifying.
Against the Panthers, the Tigers were their own worst enemy, committing seven errors and managing only three hits. Their pitchers uncorked three wild pitches, two that allowed runners to score from third.
"Seven errors, and we didn't hit," Southern coach Randy Young said. "That's pretty much it.
"I've never had this happen (missing the playoffs), so, yeah, I'm disappointed. This is the first time I'll read about it in the paper instead of being a part of it."
Bloomsburg was out of the gates quickly and never let up. Consecutive RBI doubles by Anthony Stone and Colton Hock provided a two-run cushion in the top of the first, and the Panthers added to that with two in the third, five in the fourth and four in the fifth. Casey Ward's bases-loaded triple was the big blow in the fifth.
The Tigers' lone run came in the bottom of the third when Taylor Young reached on a fielder's choice and scored on Nate Hunter's double to left field, the Tigers only solid hit. The other two were a bloop single by Hunter in the bottom of the first, and an infield single by Garrett Sosnoski in the fourth.
Much of their lack of offense can be attributed to the pitching performance of Bloomsburg's Andrew Gottstein, who worked all five innings, utilizing a good fastball and a biting breaking ball. In addition to allowing only the three hits, he struck out six and walked only two.
The Tigers, with only one senior in the starting lineup and a large number of sophomores, fielded a fairly youthfull team. Young, however, refused to use that as an excuse for missing the playoffs.
"We're young, but that's no excuse," he said. "We've taken young teams to the playoffs before.
"We didn't do the things we had to do to win the games we needed to win. These are great kids, and I like them a lot. We have some good athletes, but maybe they lacked confidence a little bit."
Game Summary
BLOOMSBURG (AB-R-H-BI) - C. Klingerman 3-3-1-1, Ward 3-1-1-3, Thrush 3-1-0-0, 3-3-1-2, Hock 3-1-2-3, Gottstein 3-0-1-0, Vincent 3-0-0-0, Miller 1-2-0-0, R. Klingerman 3-2-2-0. Totals 25-13-8-9.
SOUTHERN (AB-R-H-BI) - Peters 2-0-0-0, Young 1-1-0-0, Levan 1-0-0-0, Hunter 3-0-2-1, Behrent 2-0-0-0, Klock 0-0-0-0, Zigarski 2-0-0-0, Sosnoski 2-0-1-0, Kiessling 2-0-0-0, Lupold 1-0-0-0, Wilson 2-0-0-0. Totals 18-1-3-1.
Bloomsburg 202 54 - 13 8 1
Southern 001 00 - 1 3 7
Extra-base hits: 2B - Stone, Hock, Hunter. 3B - Ward.
IP H R ER BB K
Bloomsburg
Gottstein (W) 5 3 1 1 2 6
Southern
Klock (L) 3.1 6 9 6 3 1
Young .2 1 3 2 0 0
Zigarski 1 1 1 1 0 2