BY CHAD DARE
DANVILLE — Members of the Danville Dans might need to see a chiropractor today after Thursday’s game against the Hannibal Cavemen.
After playing two great games on Wednesday, sweeping a doubleheader from the Cavemen, the Dans did an about-face on Thursday.
Hannibal’s Ashley Graeter allowed just two runs in seven innings, while also going 3-for-5 with two RBIs to lead the Cavemen past the Dans 8-2.
Danville, which falls to 21-19, saw its four-game winning streak snapped as the Dans were guilty of four errors in the contest.
“That’s baseball,’’ Danville catcher Nate Johnson said. “Different things happen. Baseball is just one day at a time and each day is a different day.
“This is one of those nights. The four errors in the first three innings put us in a hole and we didn’t jump back like we should have.’’
Johnson figured into one of the highlights on the night for Danville.
His two-run homer to right in the first inning gave the Dans a 2-0 lead. Those were the only runs of the night.
“We just simply made too many errors,’’ said Johnson, who had one of his team’s four errors. “They hit the ball well, we didn’t, and they scored more runs than we did in the end.
“We played ourselves into a loss.’’
Danville starter Matt Smith, who took the loss to fall to 2-3, actually pitched well in 5Ð innings, allowing just three earned runs.
But, even he was complete immune to the bad night.
Smith had one of his team’s errors, his leadoff walk in the third lead to two runs and the Cavemen scored three runs in the fourth after he hit the leadoff batter in that frame.
“Smitty pitched well enough tonight for us to win,’’ Johnson said. “He kept us in the game, but for whatever reason, we couldn’t say with them.’’
Danville manager Pete Paciorek admitted his team didn’t play good baseball on Thursday night.
“The six games prior to tonight, we had been playing really good baseball,’’ said Paciorek, whose team was 5-1 in those contests. “It was one of those games where the wheels fell off early and the guys couldn’t get it back on track.’’
While the loss knocks Danville four games behind Quincy for the lead in the Prospect League’s West Division, Paciorek still feels his team has a shot at the title.
“I still feel I know we have a great team,’’ he said. “We have a ton of guys that love the game and play the game right way. This game is just something that every team has every once in a while.
“We need to bounce back tomorrow at Hannibal.’’
After playing four straight games at home, the Dans hit the road tonight for their fourth straight game against the Cavemen (15-24). Tonight’s game at Clemens Field in Hannibal is set for 6:35 p.m.
Not only did Danville lose a game on Thursday night, but right-hander reliever Mark Lamm was unable to pitch in the seventh.
Lamm, a junior-to-be from Vanderbilt, felt something not right in his right elbow while tossing his warm-up pitches after entering the game for Richie Goodenow.
“We don’t know for sure what is wrong, but we’re not going to take a chance with it,’’ Paciorek said. “Hopefully, it’s not serious, but we’re going to give him some time off to be safe.’’
Danville’s next home game is Saturday night against the Richmond RiverRats.
