BUCYRUS — The Redmen had problems locating the strike zone and the result was a five-inning, 30-0 Northern 10 Athletic Conference baseball loss to Upper Sandusky on Wednesday.

Bucyrus coach Sean Maudsley said it was an issue that his team had not faced in its prior outings.

“Riley (Parker) is usually pretty consistent; he’s right around the zone. He had a little bit of trouble finding the zone today. That’s his first time all year doing that,” Maudsley said.

“This is the first time our pitching let down on us this year. This is the first game in eight games that the pitching let us down. Usually, it’s the pitching that keeps us in the games.”

Parker, a junior left-hander, walked the first six Upper Sandusky hitters as the visitors jumped out on top 12-0 after one inning.

“This is his fourth start and he’s been pretty consistent around the plate. Tonight, he just didn’t have it. We wanted him to work his way out of it. He did this once before where he had a stretch in the middle of the game where he walked a couple of guys but worked his way out of it.”

The Redmen fall to 1-4 in the N10 and 1-7 overall. The Rams are 4-3 and 7-3.

“They can hit the ball very well,” Maudsley said. “We fielded the ball for the most part but they are a good hitting team. They found the open spots in our defense.”

Upper Sandusky coach Jerry Smalley got a good start from sophomore Kaden Holman. He retired Bucyrus in order in the first two innings and yielded just one hit, striking out four batters and issuing no walks.

“We didn’t swing at bad pitches tonight. Sometimes slower pitchers get to us, and we swing at bad ones. We’ve worked on it and worked on it, and did a great job of that tonight,” Smalley said.

Trailing 23-0 in the third Bucyrus managed an infield hit by Gabe Higginbotham and Malachi Bayless was safe on an error. But the hosts failed to score.

“Our kids are learning to compete right now and never give up,” Maudsley said. “That’s what we’re preaching to them right now. No matter what the score, pretend like it’s 0-0 and start competing.

Despite the Redmen’s youth, he said his players understand the nuances of the game.

“Work on the little things like approaches to the plate. We’re getting better, knowing what pitches to swing at and what pitches to lay off of. I thought they did a good job of that after the first inning.”

Parker got relief help from Brock Frost, Dylan Bannister, and Tyson McDaniel.

“It was many different pitchers. We just didn’t have it. But give them (Upper Sandusky) credit because they hit the ball where we weren’t. They had some seeing-eye singles and some bloop singles. They know how to put the ball in play. They’re a good team; well-coached.”

Junior Degan Eldridge had a huge game for the Rams, driving in seven runs on three hits. Ethan Hill and Brady Hart each drove in four runs.

Holman added three hits and drove in a pair of runs

“It’s hard to keep kids in the game when it gets like that. We’re young also,” Smalley said.

“Hopefully, we can keep playing while the kids’ arms are rolling, and the bats are going good. We got a lot of speed on the bases. We just need to keep the kids going to get it any sort of rhythm we can. Hopefully, the rains quit, and we can play Friday and Saturday and keep going.”

Bucyrus is scheduled to play at Colonel Crawford Thursday and Upper Sandusky will host Mohawk.

“Our pitching will get better. I believe this is something that happens once in a while,” Maudsley said.

Box score

Upper Sandusky   (12)(10)1 43X X      30   18    2

Bucyrus                    000 00X X                   0     1     3

WP: Kaden Holman (4 SO, 0 W)

LP: Riley Parker (0 SO, 7 W)

HR: None.

Triples: None.

Doubles: (US) Blaise Gallant, Connor Flowers.

Multiple hits: (US) Kaden Holman 3, Blaise Gallant 3, Ethan Hill 3, Degan Eldridge 3, Connor Flowers.

Records: Upper Sandusky 7-3, 3-2 N10; Bucyrus 1-7, 1-4 N10.

Next: Mohawk at Upper Sandusky, Thursday; Colonel Crawford at Bucyrus, Thursday.