An early miscue came back to haulted the Blue Sox’s momentum in a 6-2 loss to the Chicago Wildcats in the opening round of the SpamTown Challenge in Marcusen Park Thursday.

Austin (9-1 overall) started the game with a single by Nate Johnson and a double by Aaron Port, and after Zach Vlietstra lined out, Dan Swift hit what looked like a sacrifice fly. But after a protest by the Wildcats, the run was waived off as Aaron Port had left second early.

Austin would get just one hit in the next five innings.

“When you come out in the first inning and have a good chance to take the lead, you’ve got to take advantage of that,” Blue Sox manager Josh Kunze said. “It was paramount that we started out well and that’s not a typical mistake by Aaron Port, he’s usually our best base runner. But it just wasn’t a smart play.”

The Wildcats took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a bases loaded single by Dan Merrick and things got much worse for the Blue Sox in the fourth when Chicago scored five more times. In that frame, two Wildcat hitters reached base on bunts that the Blue Sox couldn’t handle and Austin committed four errors.

“We made a lot of mistakes that aren’t typical of us,” Kunze said. “All year our pitchers and defense have carried us. Today our pitchers gave out seven walks and the defense had four errors. That’s too many base runners.”

Ryan Palmer got the start on the mound for Austin, but he was relieved after allowing four hits and four walks in just over three innings of work.

“I had a good talk with Ryan Palmer and got some things across with him. Hopefully it’s a good learning experience for him,” Kunze said. “He’s got to be aggressive instead of trying to pitch around hitters.”

The Blue Sox scored their only runs in the seventh when Duell Higbe blasted a two-run homer over the left field fence with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.

The Blue Sox will continue tournament pool play when it takes on Cold Springs Friday at approximately 9 p.m. at Marcusen Park.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E

Blue Sox 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 5 4

Wildcats 0 1 0 5 0 0 X 6 4 0

Blue Sox pitching: Ryan Palmer (L), 3 1/3 IP, 4 H, 4 BB, 6 R, 2 ER, HBP, 2 K; Nels Nelson, 3 2/3 IP, 0 H, 3 BB, 0 R, 3 K

Blue Sox hitting: Nate Johnson, 2-for-3; Aaron Port, 1-for-3, double; Zach Vlietstra, 0-for-3; Dan Swift, 0-for-3; Pat Wolard, 0-for-3; Brian Voigt, 1-for-3, R; Duell Higbe, 1-for-2, HR, 2 RBIs, R, BB; Casey Toops, 0-for-3; Joe Kroc, 0-for-1, BB

Wildcats pitching: Joe Koehler (W), 7 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 2 ER, 6 K

Wildcats hitting: Nick Orr, 0-for-4; Rich Forkin, 0-for-1, 3 BBs; Jeff Harkensee, 0-for-3; Tyler Newsome, 0-for-1, RBI, BB; Matt Kamp, 1-for-4; Jon Merrick, 0-for-2, BB; Troy Williams, 0-for-1, BB; Dan Merrick, 2-for-2, 2 RBIs, BB; Christian Hickman, 0-for-3, RBI