CHOCOWINITY — Southside came out flat Tuesday night at home against Jones Senior and it proved costly. The Seahawks conceded seven runs in the first three innings en route to a 10-4 loss.

The offense left scoring chances on the table throughout the game. The Seahawks came alive in the seventh frame, but it was nearly impossible to rally from the 10-1 deficit. Chase Nobles led off in the inning with a double to the left-field fence. Pitcher Paul Radford reached when an opposing infielder couldn’t decide whether to throw to third or first.

Will Warren drew a walk to load the bases with no outs. That effectively ended Dakota Baugus’ night on the mound. Jay King took over for the final three outs of the game, already in a jam with runners all around him.

Nobles scored on a passed ball that also moved Radford and Warren around a bag. Demitrius Ebron plated another run with a bouncing single to third base. Lawrence Brown scored Warren with a groundout to second, making it 10-4 with one out.

The game wrapped up when Dakota Modlin and Dahlton O’Neal were retired consecutively. With that, Southside suffered its fifth loss in a row — all against 1-A Coastal Plains Conference opponents.

“I felt like we came out flat,” Seahawks coach Kevin McRoy said. “The first six innings, I didn’t think our heads were in the game. We were here, but I don’t think we were really into it. I tried to get them motivated, but they waited until the seventh inning.

“You always hope if you start something like that later in the game, that you can carry it over into the next game.”

The Seahawks got two on with two outs in the bottom of the first after giving up a run in the top half of the inning. O’Neal made his way to third thanks to a passed ball and a stolen base. The visiting Trojans got out of the frame unscathed by throwing out O’Neal at home as he tried to level the score.

Three more runs for Jones Senior put Southside behind 4-0 in the second. The home side loaded the bases with no outs. Ebron plated Josh Crance for the Seahawks’ first run, but Brown’s fly out to left field left another two runners stranded in scoring position.

“The difference in this game was hitting the ball all seven innings versus waiting until the seventh inning to hit the ball,” McRoy said. “(The Trojans) put the bat on the ball and they had timely hits when runners were in scoring position. We left a ton on. We’re still not getting timely hits. The difference in the game is putting the bat on the ball and putting it in play. We didn’t.”

As Jones Senior kept adding to its lead, its defense neutralized the Seahawks’ efforts to close the gap. They were set down in order in the third, fifth and sixth frames and only send four batters out in the fourth.

The postseason isn’t out of reach for the Seahawks. Their next four opponents — Lejeune, Kinston, Columbia and Pamlico County — are all below .500. Picking up some wins against those struggling clubs could help build their playoff résumé.