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The Huntland High School Hornets lost to the Moore County Raiders 16-0 on the road Wednesday in a first-round game for the District 9A tournament.

The Raiders scored at least one run in every inning while the Hornets struggled on defense with errors throughout as they took a decisive loss to open the double-elimination bracket.

Huntland head baseball coach Brent Davis said that the defensive miscues created a hole that was too deep to work out of.

“We’re not going to win any ballgames if we can’t field the ball and throw it to first. That was the big problem,” he said. “It made the pitchers have to work a lot harder and feel like they’re doing it on their own. We’ve got to find some people to go in the field and make some plays behind them.”

The Hornets recorded two of their three hits for the day in the top of the first as Evan Keller and Trace Morris recorded consecutive one-out singles with both runners moving up another 90 feet each on a wild pitch later in the frame. However, Keller and Morris were both left stranded in scoring position to end the frame.

The Raiders put up four runs in the bottom half of the first as a few Huntland errors helped to extend the frame and set up the offense.

The Raiders added one run in the bottom of the second and another five scores in the bottom of the third to push the deficit up to double digits as errors continued to hurt Huntland’s defensive efforts.

A six-run frame by the Raiders in the bottom of the fourth effectively put the game out of reach with all of the scoring for the inning coming with two outs.

Landon Kerr hit a one-out single in the top of the fifth to give the Hornets their first hit since the opening inning, but he wouldn’t advance any further as the Hornets lost by 16.

With the loss, the Hornets moved to 7-14 on the season.

They will next play Thursday against Fayetteville City High School at Eagleville in an elimination game for the District 9A tournament. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.