The Charleston High School baseball team lost 7-4 to St. Anthony at Baker Field on Wednesday, marking the third loss for the Trojans in the past two days.

Charleston (5-10, 0-4) got ahead early on with four runs in the second inning.

Sophomore Wyatt Gordon walked to be the first Trojan on base. After an error, Gordon advanced to second base and a wild pitch advanced him to third.

Sophomore Landon Shafer grounded out to score Gordon and get Charleston on the board.

Junior Rohen Walters and then sophomore Russel Applegate hit back-to-back RBI singles to give the Trojans a 3-0 lead.

With the bases loaded, senior Burk Anderson was walked to send home the fourth run of the inning.

St. Anthony (11-5, 0-0) loaded the bases in the third inning and would get on the board after senior Brock Fearday walked. Following that, junior Aiden Lauritzen hit an RBI double. A balk would send home the Bulldogs’ third run, cutting the Trojan lead to 4-3.

The game would remain scoreless until the seventh inning when St. Anthony loaded the bases again and Fearday was walked to send the tying run home. Lauritzen was walked the next at bat to give the Bulldogs their first lead of the game. Senior Henry Brent would hit a two run RBI single to extend the lead to 7-4. Charleston couldn’t answer in the bottom half of the inning.

“I thought we played six solid innings of baseball,” Charleston head coach Daniel Bennett said. “That leadoff guy in the seventh kind of hurt us and the wheels kinda of fell off.”

Applegate, who was the Trojans’ starting pitcher, pitched four and two-thirds innings, allowing two hits and recording a pair of strikeouts.  Senior Corbin Parker pitched the remainder of the game, only giving up one hit in 2.1 innings.

“I think we’re close, we just got to get over the hump,” Bennett said.

Applegate was in a unique position being the game’s starter and leadoff hitter.

“It’s a lot of pressure, but you just gotta know that what you do in practice is going to pay off,” Applegate said.

St. Anthony had four pitchers throughout the course of the game. Lauritzen started, pitching an inning and two-thirds before being taken out in the second after three Charleston runs. He was replaced by junior Xander Beals, who allowed one run to score before being taken out after facing four batters. Sophomore Alex Mayer was brought in to finish the inning and pitched through seven outs, only allowing one hit. In the fifth inning, Brent was brought in to close out the game. He also didn’t allow a hit and recorded two strikeouts.

“We didn’t have the best energy today. Sometimes after a big game the night before you can kinda have a letdown game,” St. Anthony head coach Tony Kreke said. “I’m proud of the guys for batting through and on that seventh inning we were able to find some gaps and get some hits.”

The Trojans continue the five-game homestand Thursday against North Clay/Clay City. First Pitch is set for 4:30 p.m.

Jason Coulombe can be reached at 581-2812 or at jmcoulombe@eiu.edu.