Five days after outdueling talented Alton lefty Bryan Hudson, Tanner Houck came up on the wrong end of another tight contest, losing 2-0 to Granite City.

Tanner Houck / Photo by Roger Starkey

Houck and Granite City (1-3 Southwestern Conference, 7-9) starter Austin Buzick each pitched a complete game and allowed three hits. Houck walked one and struck out 11, while Buzick walked two and struck out nine.

The problem for Houck was that he allowed his lone walk and two of the three Warrior hits to take place in the same inning. With one out in the top of the fifth inning, Chad Spanberger drew a walk. Bruce Drennan added a two-out single and Dalton Kuehnel followed with a two-out two-strike, two-run double that was placed down the left field line, to score Spanberger and Drennan.

Collinsville Head Coach Pete Trapp said his team did not do enough to win the game.

“Did we have two, maybe three balls hit hard?” Trapp asked. “We didn’t make enough adjustments.”

One ball that was well struck was Houck’s lead-off double in the bottom of the seventh inning. The opposite field shot one-hopped the right center field fence. However, the next two hitters struck out before Mitch Reising ended the game with soft grounder to shortstop.

The loss dropped Collinsville’s record to 2-2 in the Southwestern Conference and 9-4 overall.

The Kahoks return to action Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at Fletcher Field against Belleville East.