The P24s played poorly at times, brilliantly late, but in the end they came up a little short in a 10-7 home loss to West Columbia.
The loss was the ninth in a row after opening the season with back-to-back wins.
“It's frustrating, no doubt about that,” Graffagnino said. “When you're down in the dumps and wearing your last at-bat on your sleeve, its just hard. A lot of that just comes with maturity and attitude. I know there are some guys that are just as intense on this team as I am, but there are a few guys that this just doesn't bother them, and I have a problem with that.”
The P24s nearly shattered their losing streak in dramatic fashion.
Newberry trailed 10-2 going into the bottom of the ninth, but got the first seven batters in the inning to reach base. Two of those seven reached on infield errors, while A.B. Jacks got on base after a passed ball by the West Columbia catcher on a swinging third strike.
The P24s eventually had the tying runs on base with one out, before Wilbur Caldwell and Ryan Davis ended the game by striking out.
“We don't focus for nine innings,” Graffagnino said. “The way we played in the bottom of the ninth inning, if they could put that intensity and play like that for nine innings, we'd win more than we'd lose. We put the ball in play and made stuff happen. They booted a couple of balls, we got a couple of hits and stuff happened.”
Walks and timely hits by West Columbia doomed the P24s early in the game.
Newberry pitchers walked seven batters and hit two more, that led to five West Columbia runs.
West Columbia took a 2-0 lead in the second on a two-run single up-the-middle by Cory Matherson after two walks to open the inning.
The visitors stretched their lead to 5-0 on a three-run homer to left field by Thomas Little.
“It's a reoccuring theme of what's been going on all year. We walk two people, we give up a three-run bomb. We walk a couple of people, give up a couple of hits and its 5-0.”
Newberry cut the lead to 5-2 after a run in the third and fifth, but West Columbia pulled away with three runs in the sixth and two more in the eighth.
Korey Ahrens finished the game 2-for-4 with RBI singles in the fifth and ninth innings.
Robby Assemany was 2-for-5, including a big two-run single during the ninth-inning rally.
Ashton Longshore continued his strong season at the plate with a pair of hits, including an RBI single in the ninth.
The P24s will be back in action tonight when they host Columbia Northeast. Game time is set for 7 p.m. at Bill Harvey Field on the campus of Newberry High School.
The teams have split their first two meetings.
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