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The Franklin County Rebels lost to the Giles County Bobcats 2-1 on the road Monday for their seventh loss of the season.

The Bobcats took an early lead in the district contest with an attempted rally from the Rebels in the top of the seventh coming up short as they took their fourth straight loss overall.

Franklin County head baseball coach Mike Crossland said that defensive issues have plagued his team during their four-game losing streak.

“Lately, our defense has failed us, and you can’t win one-run ballgames when you’re giving people runs,” he said. “We knew coming down here that we were going to have to play great defense, we were going to have to pitch it and get some timely hits, and all we did is we pitched it well.”

The Bobcats scored both of their runs for the game in the bottom of the first as a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch brought in one run each to make it a 2-0 game.

The Rebels got one of those runs back in the top of the second as Ayden Hodosi and Taylor Austin led off the frame with consecutive singles, and a one-out RBI single from Ethan Stoltzfus brought Kingzli Wells, pinch-running for Hodosi, around to score to cut the deficit down to 2-1.

The Rebels put another runner into scoring position in the top of the fourth as Stoltzfus and Avery Jackson hit consecutive two-out singles, but a flyout then ended the inning.

With the Rebels still facing a one-run deficit in the top of the seventh, Avery Jackson hit a leadoff single and Gavin McBee drew a walk to put the potential tying and go-ahead runs on base with nobody out.

Following a fielder’s-choice groundball from Layton Jones for the first out of the inning, Gus Gardner was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Braden Jackson struck out looking for the second out of the frame.

Hodosi then hit a ball toward center field with Giles County’s Weston Brumit making a sliding catch to end the contest and give the Rebels a narrow defeat.

Gardner pitched a complete game for the Rebels with nine strikeouts, two hits, one earned run and one unearned run allowed for the day.

With the loss, the Rebels moved to 9-7 on the season and 2-1 in district play.

They will next play Tuesday at home against Giles County High School. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.