Eric Rowling of the Charleston Squirrels dives back into first base on a pickoff attempt by Fulton, Ky., pitcher Josh Lindsey during the second inning of Wednesday's game. Rowling was safe on the play. (Chris Pobst/Standard Democrat) [Click to enlarge]

CHARLESTON -- It was a back-and-forth type of game at Hillhouse Park on Wednesday night as the Squirrels could not continue the trend in the later innings falling just shy of the Fulton (Ky.) Xpress, 7-6.

"We had some little miscues that can't happen and shouldn't happen but that's part of learning," Squirrels head coach Michael Minner said. "We're starting to face some tough competition, and I thought they (Fulton) threw some decent pitchers at us. But, when it came down to it, we just weren't good enough to win tonight. I thought we played hard, though."

Charleston started the see-saw battle in the first inning when Jarryd Smith crossed the plate for the first time as an unearned run due to an error that happened on his at-bat.

The Xpress tied it right back up in the second inning, but lost the lead again in the third after Tyler Whybark drove in Smith again to make it a 2-1 game. Fulton tied it up again in the bottom of the third but went down by two runs in the fourth when the Squirrels Matt Medlock tripled in James Miller from first base and Colin Gilooly drove in Medlock with a single up the middle to make it a 4-2 lead for the Nuts.

The Xpress gained one back in the fifth inning and eventually took the lead in the sixth when they scored two runs to make it a 5-4 Xpress lead.

But, the Squirrels tied it right back up with a suicide squeeze by Medlock to score Garrison Eastman. Both the Xpress and Squirrels scored one run each in the seventh to continue the backand-forth nature of the game.

The final run and blow from the Xpress came in the eighth inning. After a strikeout by the Squirrels relief pitcher Tyler McCann to the leadoff batter, Cody Dew reached base on a single and was moved to second when John Gilliland grounded out to second base. The next batter, Alex Jackson, walked to make it a two on, two out situation for the Squirrels pitcher Mc-Cann.

The fifth batter of the inning, Mason Garrett, hit a ground ball to the Squirrels shortstop Blake Gaddis who couldn't quite get control of the ball and allowed Garrett to reach first base. Gaddis then tried to get the out at second base with Jackson making his way there but his throw to Smith was off the mark and allowed Dew to score the winning go-ahead run. '

Charleston didn t go quietly in the ninth inning as they worked two men into scoring position with only one out recorded but, failed to do anything with them as a strike out and a ground out ended the game.

"We're still playing hard and that's what kept us in the ball game," Minner said. "But, we didn't do some little things. When you get opportunities like getting the bases loaded and getting people into scoring position, you got to put it in play and we didn't do that tonight."

The Squirrels had no problem getting men on base throughout the game as they had 15 hits but, they stranded 11 runners on base, including two in the sixth, a bases loaded opportunity in the seventh and the two in the ninth.

"We're starting to swing it," Minner said about the offense. "We just have to get the right guys up in the right spots and find some competitors that will put it in play and do the job offensively.

"I thought we had some good baseball runs when we got some guys on base and we moved up on passed balls and bunts," Minner added. "I thought we did a fairly good job of moving people over and getting them in. You can't live off squeezes all year and at some point you just going to have to put in play."

Medlock had no trouble putting it in play as he went 2-for-5 with a triple and a suicide squeeze bunt that went for a single to account for two RBIs. Zach Rowland had three hits that all went for singles in his five at-bats, Tyler Whybark went 2-for-5 with an RBI and Eric Rowling and Gaddis each had two hits as well.

Jamie Barber started the game on the mound for the Squirrels but, McCann was the hard luck loser in the contest as he pitched two innings giving up one run that was unearned on one hit, one walk and two strikeouts.

"I thought Barber threw the ball well, and I thought McCann come in and looked real tough," Minner said about Wednesday's pitchers. "He had pretty good velocity tonight and made some good pitches. Some guys took some bad cuts off him so, that's a good sign of hopefully what's to come.

Despite the loss, Minner said that games like this are learning experiences and it just makes his players a more tight-knit group as they surge towards the end of the season.

"We're still learning," said Minner. "We're finally starting to click as a group and we're starting to pull for each other and we're picking each other up and doing all the little things that it takes to win at the end of the year. We're going to continue to battle."

The Squirrels will continue their battle tonight when they will host Calvert City, Ky., at Hillhouse Park at 6 p.m.