By Bill Kiser
Kannapolis Citizen
A.L. Brown head coach Empsy Thompson is the first to admit that his players had a rough time on the field last week.
Things don’t get any easier for the Wonders over the next two weeks as they try to move into position to earn one of the South Piedmont Conference’s five playoff berths.
Brown, which was 6-10 overall and 4-7 in the SPC entering Tuesday’s game against Parkwood, had lost four straight and tumbled to eighth in the league standings.
The Wonders struggled both on the field and at the plate last week in losing to Anson County 6-0 on April 8 and to Marvin Ridge 7-2 on April 11.
In the two games, Brown managed to combine for five hits, and committed seven errors in the loss to league-leading Marvin Ridge.
“It was rough,” Thompson said. “We just haven’t taken care of the baseball, basically. That’s it right there. If we had taken care of the baseball, we’d have some different opportunities present themselves that would make it a completely different ballgame.
“We’ve struggled in a lot of areas, but the kids keep coming to practice and they keep working hard.”
However, the next two weeks won’t give the Wonders much in the way of breaks, with back-to-back games this week and three games over a four-day span the following week.
After facing Parkwood, Brown travels to Carson for a non-league game on Wednesday ó a make-up from a rainout last month. Next week, the Wonders host Piedmont on April 22, then hit the road to J.M. Robinson for a non-conference game April 23 and to Hickory Ridge for a SPC game April 25.
“These next two weeks are key games for us,” Thompson said. “We’ve got to do what we can do, because there’s other teams out there that are in worse shape than we are.
“We’ve got to take care of business now, because there’s no second chances. … We’re within distance, but we’ve got to play well the remaining ballgames so we’ve got a chance. But we’ve got to play a little bit better than we’ve been doing.”