APA's long winning streak ends against Coastal Christian
Arendell Parrott’s Jonah Beaman rounds the bases after a home run in the third inning during the Patriots’ contest against Coastal Christian Thursday. Photo by William ‘Bud’ Hardy / Neuse News
Arendell Parrott’s high-powered offense had a bit of an outage Thursday.
The Patriots fell to Coastal Christian 7-3 Thursday, ending a 9-game winning streak. APA (9-3) averaged 10.7 runs per game, but the Centurions (5-5) took an early lead and never looked back.
“We’ve been swinging the bats better and the approach has been simplified for some of the guys,” Coastal Christian coach Malcolm Phelps said. “We’ve got a lot of talented guys on the team — we just have to get going.”
APA hadn’t scored fewer than five runs in a game heading into Thursday and fell behind 3-0 heading into the bottom of the third. Jonah Beaman put the Patriots on the board with a home run in the frame, but the Centurions kept the pressure on.
Trailing 7-1 in the seventh, Trey McLawhorn fought back with an RBI double and Zach Vendemia followed with a run-scoring single. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for APA.
“It just wasn’t our night, and Coastal did a good job of taking us out of our rhythm,” Parrott coach Robert Kravitz said. “All we can do is move on — any given night you can be beaten and we’ve got to prepare for the next one.”
The Patriots face Rocky Mount Faith Christian Friday at home.
