Comets lose to Riverhawks 11-0 in baseball opener

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY ­— Time was running out for Charles City during Thursday’s baseball opener against Mason City at Comet Field.

It’s not that the game was under the dominion of a clock or stopwatch like it is at some of the higher levels.

But even though it was just the bottom of the fourth, the visiting Riverhawks had rallied repeatedly to take an 11-0 lead at that point while taking advantage of four Comet errors and were only six outs away from inflicting an abbreviated no-hitter if Charles City didn’t take offensive action.

Comet junior captain Vincent Benning appeared to come to the rescue when he drilled a pitch deep into the gap in right-center field only to have Riverhawk junior right-fielder Kinnick Brown range over to his right while drifting back to make a brilliant all-out diving catch to rob Benning.

But in the next inning, Brown couldn’t get to Comet sophomore Zachary Schoeck’s sinking liner near the right-field line that fell in for Charles City’s first hit of the season.

The Comets soon got another runner on base for the would-be game-continuing run, but the Riverhawks shut the door and settled for the shutout victory by the aforementioned score.

The opener was originally scheduled for Monday, but was postponed due to the weather.

The Comets (0-1) won’t be back in action until after Memorial Day when they host Independence next Tuesday (May 27).