The Red Storm struggled at the plate recording just one hit, while falling 7-0 at home to the Peru Nighthawks in a game that was called off in the fifth inning because of the weather.

Saranac Lake’s head coach Bryan Munn said he wasn’t happy with his team’s offensive performance.

“I’m not sure what we’re going to do about that but tomorrow that’s going to be our focus,” he said. “Getting as many reps as we can whether it’s out here or back in the gym. Either way, we’re going to be hitting. We’ve got a lineup that can hit, it’s just been silent and it happened again today.”

The lone hit, a double, came off the bat of junior Evan Willett when he sent the ball in between the center and right fielder in the bottom of the fourth inning. Willett’s hit was also the only time a Saranac Lake batter reached base.

Saranac Lake’s Evan Willett makes a throw to first during Monday’s game against Peru. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

Since the Red Storm opened up the season with back-to-back wins over AuSable Valley by a combined score of 28-9, the team has struggled to find a grove at the plate. In their last three games, the team has a combined seven hits.

“That’s the big thing right now, if we get bats on balls we’re going to be OK,” Munn said. “But it doesn’t how many runs the other team scores if we are not getting guys on base. That’s the goal right now. One base runner at a time. However, we need to do it.”

Monday’s contest was the first clash between the two squads and for most of the contest, it was a pitching duel between Saranac Lake’s Brady Roberts and Peru’s Zach O’Connell. The two aces pitched four hitless innings to open up the ball game.

O’Connell recorded 10 strikeouts in five innings to earn the win, while Roberts had seven before being relieved before the start of the fifth inning. Jon Kratts finished the game for Saranac Lake while striking out one batter.

“Brady was throwing strikes. His curveball was working very well,” Munn said. “That’s a tough lineup and he struck out quite a few guys. I’m happy with his performance.”

While the Nighthawks were held without a hit through four innings, they weren’t held without runs. After Roberts walked back-to-back batters in the bottom of the third inning, the Red Storm committed a couple of timely errors and allowed Peru to take a 2-0 lead.

In the top of the fourth, the Nighthawks tacked on one run in a similar fashion when Peru’s Donnoven Mitchell reached first base after an error. He made his way around the bases after being advanced by a sacrifice hit, stealing one base and scoring on a wild pitch.

With a 3-0 lead in the top of the fifth, the Nighthawks plated four runs to close out the game. Jake Frechette led the charge with a double, while Landon Duprey and Nolan Manchester each cracked a single to help Peru remain undefeated at 5-0.

For the Red Storm, the loss dropped them to 3-2 overall. The two teams are slated to meet again on Peru’s home field today at 4:30 p.m.