Catasauqua head baseball coach Steve Bradley has come to grips with the current state of his team.

The Rough Riders will begin the week with an overall 3-8 mark.

“We’re missing a couple of pieces,” said Bradley, who is in his 13th season in Catty. “Our kids battle, and they don’t quit. We just make too many errors that we overthrow or drop.”

In a recent game, the Rough Riders got out to a 2-1 lead in the first inning at Bangor, but the Slaters eventually wore them down in a 12-2 defeat. It was their third straight defeat and sixth in their last seven games. Before that, the Roughies had a modest two-game winning streak.

McKay Lewis started against Bangor, and he allowed eight runs (only four earned) on four hits, striking out four and walking one over four innings. David Carl relieved Lewis and finished the five-inning, shortened game.

“McKay hasn’t pitched that badly for us,” said Bradley. “We just haven’t given him the support he has needed. We could see he was tiring out there, and he began to struggle.

“He is our most experienced starter.”

The Roughies have been affected by the loss of Hunter Reitz, who was scheduled to return to the lineup Tuesday against Notre Dame after a hamstring injury. His play in the field was limited earlier due to his shoulder surgery.

“Hunter is a big key in our lineup,” said Bradley. “It is a shame that he is injured often. But he is a kid who goes 100 miles per hour in everything he does. We’re hoping to keep him in the lineup.”

Bradley was pleased with the return of Aiden Hess to the lineup after he was sidelined following wrist surgery. He also noted the consistency of Christian Fye and Bryce Emery.

“He had three hits his first day back,” said Bradley about Hess. “He is the type of kid who can help us with his bat, in the field, and on the mound.”

Despite struggles in nearly every phase of the game, Bradley is confident his team can stay in games.

“We have to continue to compete,” he stressed. “If we don’t we might as well fold up the tents. We all have to do a better job including me. It can be very frustrating when we seemingly can’t get anything to go right.

“I believe we can have a better second half. Our kids will keep working through it.”