The Marauders increased their offensive output by six runs from the night prior, while racking up 14 hits and having four players with multi-hit games.

The problem is it all came in a Dunkirk loss.

Behind four Dunkirk errors, six walks surrendered, and a whopping 11 hit batters, Dunkirk allowed 21 runs to Olean in a five-run loss in Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 1 baseball play at Dunkirk High School on Friday.

“When you boot it around a little bit, it gets discouraging,” Dunkirk head coach Frank Jagoda said.

Dunkirk starting pitcher Anthony Cosme (15) delivers a pitch during Friday’s game against the Olean Huskies. OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen

Referring to the night prior, Jagoda noted that his team gave up six runs to tie the game before pulling back ahead to win 10-9. Jagoda joked that the sloppy play on defense has become a trend for the team. “We need to field better,” he said. ” … We need to get better.”

Dunkirk (5-5, 3-3) immediately fell behind Friday after allowing three runs to score with two outs in the top of the first inning.

After Olean (3-4, 3-1) tacked on two more runs in the top of the third inning, then two more in the top of the fourth, the Huskies held a 7-0 lead before Dunkirk had its second hit.

With two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning, Dunkirk scraped across two runs thanks to an RBI double from Anthony Piede and an RBI single from Dylan Bankoski. Together, the two players combined for half of the team’s hits in the game.

“That’s a pretty good outburst for us,” Jagoda said, noting his team had seven total hits in three games the week prior. Even with 10 runs a night earlier, Dunkirk did so on only six hits.

Dunkirk’s offensive awakening was met with even more offense in response from Olean, as the Huskies tacked on three runs in the top of the fifth inning to extend the lead back to 10-2. A catch by Paul Trippy III on a line drive to left field stranded the bases loaded to prevent the Olean lead from growing to double digits.

Just as the game appeared to spiral out of reach, the Marauders responded to make things interesting. Dunkirk batted around in the bottom of the fifth inning to cut an eight-run deficit to just two at 10-8.

“What I’m encouraged about is we’re down 10-2 and we didn’t fold,” Jagoda said. He recognized Davi Alvalle, Nate Garcia, Henry Leone, Josh Smith and jayvee call-up Danny Hoth among the group of players to come off the bench to keep the team in the game despite the gloomy circumstances at times throughout the contest.

But every time Dunkirk showed a spark, Olean quickly put out the fire. The Huskies immediately responded with their own outburst in the top of the sixth inning, with eight runs off three different pitchers. Dunkirk trailed 18-8 headed to the bottom of the sixth inning.

But just as Olean did in the top half of the inning, Dunkirk responded with eight runs of its own in the bottom half of the sixth inning. As the sun began to set, the Marauders brought the tying run to the plate in the form of Donnie Jackson, who delivered with an RBI single, then a single from Greg Orcutt Jr. put Dunkirk within two runs again. Piede came to the plate with the bases loaded, already with three hits and three RBIs on the evening, but a groundout to second base ended the threat.

Even after surrendering three more runs in the top of the seventh inning, Dunkirk still didn’t make it easy in the bottom half of the final frame. The Marauders loaded the bases after Trippy walked with two outs, but a strikeout looking ended the game with the potential tying run on deck.

The problems for Dunkirk on Friday were on the bump and in the field. Five Dunkirk pitchers combined to allow 21 runs (15 earned) with nine hits allowed. Between walks and hit batters, 17 Olean batters were given first base, and six runs crossed the plate thanks to four Dunkirk errors.

Friday’s loss, while frustrating for the Dunkirk faithful, also showed signs of life from an offense that had been struggling recently.

Bankoski had four hits, while Piede and Orcutt each had three hits. Each of the three batters — stacked up 4-5-6 in the Dunkirk order — drove in three runs in the contest. Davi Alvalle came off the bench and drove in two runs with a pair of hits, as well. Jagoda was “very encouraged” by the heart of his order’s at-bats Friday.

Dunkirk is back in action today at Allegany-Limestone for its third straight game, as part of a stretch of five games in six days.