Friday wasn't the day, but it's coming.
The Capital City Cavaliers are closing in on the first win in the history of the baseball program.
"I don't like losing, but you can see we are making strides," Capital City coach Brett Skinner said after the Cavaliers dropped a 4-2 decision to the Father Tolton Trailblazers at Capital City High School.
It was the second straight close game for the Cavaliers. On Wednesday, Capital City and Sedalia Smith-Cotton were scoreless going to extra innings before the Tigers were able to pull out a 2-0 victory.
"Our pitching looks like it's coming along and our defense is stepping up," Skinner said. "The offense is going to come, we've been working hard on it."
And the attitude has been better, up and down the roster.
"They feed off each other, good things can happen when we support each other," Skinner said. "It's good to see."
Capital City starting pitcher Trey Jennings worked out of trouble in the first inning. The Blazers had runners at second and third with one out, but a pop-up to second and a strikeout ended the threat.
Father Tolton got on the board in the second when Nathaniel Krebs hit a two-out single to score Max Roadhouse.
Both teams scored a run in the third. After the first two batters were retired, three straight Tolton batters walked to load the bases before Justin Martin hit an infield single to make it 2-0.
In the bottom of the inning, Grayson Jones hit a one-out triple to right-center before scoring on a wild pitch.
"Grayson has been struggling a little bit, we've changed a couple of things with his swing and it's great to see something come from that work," Skinner said. "It was good to see him barrel one up."
Jones ran through a stop sign from Skinner to beat the throw to third.
"Good thing he did, otherwise he might not have scored," Skinner said. "He made it, so I'll live with it."
The Blazers got three straight singles to start the fourth, with two eventually scoring to make it 4-1.
The Cavaliers threatened to cut into the deficit in the bottom of the fourth. Brock Miles hit a one-out double before Taggart Bodenstab was hit by a pitch. But the Blazers were able to turn a double play to end the inning.
The extra-base hits were rare hard contact for the Cavaliers against Blazer starter Jonah Sarabia. The first 10 outs for the Capital City were strikeouts against Sarabia, who pitched the first four innings.
"We didn't think he would throw the whole game," Skinner said. "Our goal was to get his pitch count up to get him out of there. Our guys did a good job of that.
"Yes, he got a lot of Ks, but he had to earn them. He wasn't just mowing us down."
The Cavaliers used very good defense to keep the deficit at three in the fifth, throwing out a pair of runners from the outfield.
"We're making the big plays to get us out of innings and that's what we have to do right now," Skinner said.
Capital City got a run back in the bottom of the inning. Brett Kuebler and Carlos Ayala started the inning with singles. After a fly out, Cooper Rowden was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Kuebler then scored on a grounder to short by Noah Nicklas.
But the Cavaliers could only get one baserunner on in the final two innings.
Jennings took the loss on the mound, pitching the first four innings. He allowed seven hits and four walks while striking out four. Ayala worked the final three frames, giving up four hits and two walks with one strikeout.
"They're starting to get their secondary pitches over for strikes, that's made a big difference," Skinner said.
Noah Manie had three hits for Father Tolton (6-1).
Capital City (0-10) will play Monday at Waynesville before hosting Eldon on Tuesday.
"We have something to build off," Skinner said.