By Will Simmons

Perhaps, it was fatigue.

Playing in its fourth game in four days, Charleston pitchers gave up 16 runs to St. Joseph-Ogden on Thursday evening in a run-rule shortened 16-2 baseball loss at Marty Pattin Field.

Making up games canceled for poor weather may have caught up with the Trojans’ rotation.

Starting pitcher Collin Patterson left the game in the second inning after the Spartans (22-2) scored five runs off four hits. Charleston pitchers Aidan Archibald and Eoin Dahlke finished out the game, accounting for the team’s two strikeouts.

Charleston (8-6) scored both runs on home runs.

William Applegate blasted his team-leading fifth, and Logan Beals ripped one for the second straight day. Beals had delivered his first homer Wednesday after having started the season 0-9 – on a three-run, walk-off blast to beat Neoga. On Thursday, he launched one over the left field fence.

CHS’s Logan Beals rips his second HR in 2 days.

Beals said he’s been waiting to get a hit since well before his game-winner. Beals hadn’t been on the field for the last two years, losing one season to COVID and another to injury.

“I’ve been battling to get a spot on the field,” Beals said, “and so I finally got a chance to play. I was struggling at the plate, but I blasted the ball when it was on the line.”

The Trojans remain in contention for first in the Apollo Conference, trailing only Mahomet behind Mahomet-Seymour, a team whose only Apollo loss came from Charleston.

CHS coach Daniel Bennett said the Trojans were on a strict pitch limit this week, which featured all non-conference games, in order to rest players for Saturday’s conference matchup against Effingham.

“I’m hoping somebody can knock off Mahomet,” Bennett said. “They have a really good team, but we’re lucky to get out of there with one. So, hopefully, someone can catch some luck, too, but we gotta take care of what we can control, and that’s Effingham, Mount Zion and Taylorville. So, we gotta take care of business these next three Saturdays.”