The Hill City Howlers succumbed to the strong pitching of the Wilson Warbirds, falling 7-3 on Thursday evening.
Hill City combined for five hits in the loss while surrendering eight of their own. Of note, Howlers relief arm Javi Torres made his home debut, throwing two scoreless innings .
Wilson scored first on three hits in the first inning. Juan Ortuno drove home the run with a single in the frame. Another came home in the second as an error by the Howlers allowed Luis Lameda to score from second, pushing the lead to two.
A quiet third gave way to a busy fourth for the Warbirds. After the first two runners reached, Brady Ebel made the Howlers pay with a blast to right field to make it a 5-0 ballgame.
In the fifth, Frederi Montero drove home a runner with an RBI single. He would score later in the frame after the Howlers second error of the day pushed the Wilson lead up to seven.
Hill City cracked the scoreboard in the seventh as Yaikel Mijares brought home a run with an RBI single. A wild pitch allowed Victor Izturis to touch home as well, making it a 7-2 ballgame.
Cannon Peebles scratched one more across in the ninth as his RBI single scored Yerlin Luis, but the Howlers could not bring any more across.
The Howlers and Warbirds battle again on Friday night at City Stadium with first pitch at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are available at hchowlers.com.