Calvert City catcher Brantley Borrett prepares to catch the ball and tag Charleston base runner Paul Johnson Sunday afternoon in Charleston. Johnson was out on the play. (Josh Mills/Standard Democrat) [Click to enlarge]

CHARLESTON -- It was a game of chances for the Charleston Fighting Squirrels on Sunday afternoon and unfortunately for the Squirrels, they failed to capitalize on their scoring chances.

The Squirrels stranded seven base runners through the first three innings and a potential tying run in the top of the seventh only to fall short to Calvert City, 4-3, in the Charleston Wood Bat Classic championship game.

"We had chances to win," Squirrels head coach Michael Minner said. "We had opportunities to score but you have to play good defense to beat a team like Calvert City."

They stranded nine base runners throughout the game but failure to execute at the plate wasn't totally to blame for the Squirrels. The Calvert City pitching and defense was the main reason behind the scoring slump.

"Our pitching is our number one strength," Calvert City head coach Justin Hodge said. "We don't allow many runs and we don't score many either. Our pitching and defense allow us to have chances to win without scoring a lot of runs."

Defense proved to be the main strength for Calvert City as they committed only one fielding error. The Squirrels, unfortunately, couldn't do the same as every run that Calvert City put across went down as an unearned run, which meant hard luck for the Squirrels starter Tyler Whybark.

"He pitched very well," Minner said of his starter. "He made big pitches when he needed to and he battled. I think he deserved a better fate than he got but, he pitched his tail off."

Whybark ended up the hard luck loser for Charleston, pitching all six innings and giving up five hits and one walk.

Calvert City jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead after the first inning but, Charleston gained one run back in the second after a sacrifice fly from Colin Gilooly scored Eric Rowling.

In the fourth inning, Calvert City, again, made it a two run ball game after Andrew Edwards hit a double to left field and was allowed to score on an infield error.

The Squirrels ended up tying the game in the sixth inning when Chase McClendon was brought home on an RBI triple from Nick Johnson. The second run was scored by Johnson when Paul Johnson ripped a single through the left side of the infield.

Although the Squirrels tied the game in the top half of the sixth, Calvert City regained the lead right back in the bottom half. An infield error allowed Jacob Burks to get on base and then was brought home by Brantley Borrett later in the inning.

Charleston got the seventh started off just right with a walk to the lead off man, Blake Gaddis. Zach Rowland moved Gaddis over with a sacrifice bunt and then a groundout by Whybark moved Gaddis over the third base.

So, with two down and Gaddis representing the tying run at third base in the top of the seventh inning, pinch-hitter Mark Freed stepped up to the plate and stranded the ninth and final base runner for the Squirrels by striking out.

Andrew Edwards picked up the win for Calvert City, while Borrett picked up the save.

Edwards was Calvert City's leading hitter. He went 2-for-3 with a double. Cody Forsythe was behind him with a 2-for-4 performance.

Charleston was led by Paul Johnson at the plate. He went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Tyler Whybark also went 2-for-4 with a double and Nick Johnson went 1-for-1 with a triple.

"Overall, I am very please with our effort and how we played," Minner said. "We are pretty close to getting on track and finding the right mix of players to send out on to the field."

The Squirrels will be heading back on the field on Tuesday when they will host Dunklin County at Hillhouse Park at 5 p.m.