Not with a bang, but with a whimper the slug-less Slugs fell 9-2 to Schrute Beet Farms Thursday, their fifth straight loss in the Spring campaign.
The Slugs battled gamely with solid (sometimes eye-popping) defense only to fall victim to an old nemesis: run scoring.
Kevin Yamamura chased down numerous shots in short center, while hurler Erin McGuire turned in her usual flawless game in the field.
A high point was Ryan Lillis' triple (actually it was a double and a half) that scored a run and left the usually sure-footed Lillis bloody and temporarily sprawled at the feet of the Farmers' shortstop.
The Farmer boys sent three towering shots deep over Lillis' head in left field (D-league, you say?) .
More significantly, the Slugs offense remains in winter hibernation, prompting skipper John Kepley to urge individual Slugs to take personal responsibility by going to the batting cages to find their stroke.
One wag in the coed locker room grumbled that the rest of the league appears to be getting younger (the so-called Benjamin Button factor), while the Slugs' roster follows the natural order of things.
Slugs notes: The prospect of an 0-8 campaign does not please Kepley, who noted between Marlboro Lights that a Slugs squad has never had a winless season...Lillis was listed as probable for this week's game against SoCal's after getting treatment for his knees from the team's crack medical staff....Usually loquacious lefty Ellen Chrismer was silenced by some sort of ailment, which made calling for fly balls in right problematic...Thursday's game marked a return to Luigi's after a short hiatus, but team members followed up with hard liquor at Tallac Lounge.
