PEARCY -- Missed opportunities cost Lake Hamilton in Tuesday's home matchup with Nashville. Lake Hamilton had six hits and made contact in 22 at-bats, but came away empty-handed in a 6-0 loss.
The Scrappers scored all six of their runs with two outs.
"Youth had a lot to do with it today," Lake Hamilton coach Mac Hurley said. "We've got some guys that are going to be out for a few weeks, and we were trying out some new faces today. We only had one senior that played today and it's going to take some time."
Preston Pope plated Nashville's first run with an RBI single in the second inning, controlling the rest of the game on the mound. The senior tossed a complete-game shutout, allowing six hits with two strikeouts and two walks.
"That's just who he is; he's going to be around the strike zone every time he's out there," Nashville coach Kyle Slayton said. "He's a senior and he's been there for us for three years. I thought it was a real solid performance from him today. He stayed ahead in the count and did a good job for us."
The Scrappers stretched their lead to 3-0 in the top of the third on an RBI single from Dalton Smead and a two-run double by Chris Willard. The Wolves answered with singles from Spencer Gracie and Payton Winston, but Winston was thrown out at home on Ben Slate's double to end the frame.
"We hit the ball hard, but it was just right at them every time," said Hurley. "Nashville's always a good team and they're very well-coached. It'll come together for us, but it's going to take some time until these guys get that experience."
Trailing 5-0, Lake Hamilton had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the fourth after consecutive singles from Tanner King and Utah Aitken. Pope struck out Cole Plyler and got Gracie to groundout to keep the Wolves off the scoreboard.
"That one inning is really the only battle he had to work out of," Slayton said. "He's not a hard thrower and not going to strike out a lot of guys, but if we play good defense behind him, he can get the job done for us."
Austin Bowman doubled and later stole home to put Nashville ahead 6-0 in the sixth while the Wolves were held to one hit over the last three innings.
Aitken suffered the loss in his first start of the season, surrendering five runs on five hits with three strikeouts and two walks in four innings. Dylan Hudson allowed one run on two hits with two strikeouts in three innings of relief.
"That was Utah's first time to pitch this season, and I thought he did a heck of a job," said Hurley. "Dylan came in and gave us three great innings at the end. Right now we're still trying to find our identity, but those guys are going to be big for us at the end of the year."
Willard finished with one single, one double, one stolen base and two RBI in four at-bats for the Scrappers. Aitken and Gentry each reached base twice for the Wolves.
Now 3-7-1 on the season, Lake Hamilton resumes conference play Friday at Texarkana.
"The ultimate goal for us is to win conference games," Hurley said. "I'm proud of the way they fought today. We're going to move forward and continue to grow and get better."
Nashville;013 101 0 -- 6 7 0
Lake Hamilton;000 000 0 -- 0 6 2
Aitken, Hudson and Gracie, Aitken (5). Pope and Smead. W-Pope. L-Aitken. 2B-Lake Hamilton, Slate. Nashville, Bowman, Willard. SB-Nashville, Bowman, Hanson, Jamison, Smead, Pope, Willard.
Sports on 03/29/2017