AHOSKIE – Sometimes you err on the side of caution, and sometimes you just err – as in errors.

The Ahoskie Post 102 American Legion junior baseball team saw an early lead evaporate and then watched as they suffered through their first conference loss of the young season, 12-2, to Nash Central of Rocky Mount.

“Just say the wheels came off,” said Ahoskie coach Wayne Hill, trying to smile through the loss that dropped his team to 2-1 in conference play and 4-4 overall.

“A couple of extra earned runs is all they should have had,” he added, “but the defense didn’t hold up and our bats just didn’t hit the slower pitching.”

Joseph Eure was 2-for-2 for Ahoskie and drove in a run and Darren Armstrong was 2-for-3 while driving in the other. Shawn Holloway, Nathan Pearce and Austin Britton also had base hits for Post-102.

Jessie White took the loss for Ahoskie while Holloway, Eure and Day Day Phelps also saw action on the mound.

Ahoskie jumped on eventual winning pitcher, Dillon Moore early in the bottom of the first inning of a then-scoreless game. Holloway reached on a base rip to left centerfield and then was sacrificed to second on a hard grounder by D.J. Cooke.

The Nash Central first baseman appeared to drop the ball as Cooke crossed the bag, but the umpire ruled the miscue came on an exchange from his glove to his throwing hand and the out-call stood.

Armstrong followed with a hot shot up the middle that scored Holloway from second for Ahoskie’s first run of the game. Nathan Pearce then walked to put two runners aboard, and after a strikeout, Eure’s liner to center field scored Armstrong for a 2-0 Ahoskie lead.

Ahoskie would load the bases in the inning, but a line-out ended the threat with the sacks full.

Nash Central got on the board and took the lead in the third inning, scoring three runs without a hit.

An error and a stolen base set up their first run while a base-on-balls and another error loaded them up.

White then threw back-to-back wild pitches to score a pair and tie it at 2-2. Another walk put runners on the corners before Nash Central pulled off the double-steal and the go-ahead run came in on the play.

Ahoskie got four consecutive base hits in the bottom of the third, but two runners were caught stealing before a fly out ended the threat.

Still trailing by just a run in the top of the fifth, Ahoskie committed a pair of errors and had three passed balls as Nash Central took advantage of the miscues and blew the game open with nine runs.

Post-102 got a man aboard in the bottom of the fifth, but a line-out ended the game.

“We started out pretty rocky early,” said Nash Central coach Buck Edmundson, “but we got it going. We won, but we made way too many mistakes.”