PENDLETON — Let downs have always been a part of sports, with only the most talented and focused teams going unscathed.

After a busy weekend in which the Pendleton Heights baseball team knocked off rival Anderson to win the Nick Muller tournament, the Arabians suffered their first two losses of the season, finishing 3-2 on the week.

The week started with a promising performance from the Arabians when they captured a 13-3 victory over Frankton on April 14 and showed no signs of fatigue in doing so. PH (8-2) came out swinging as it recorded four runs in the first inning to put the Eagles on their heels and hand them their second defeat in less than a week. The Arabians beat Frankton 14-3 in the Nick Muller Tournament semifinal on April 11.

PH added one run in the second and eight more in the third while holding Frankton to just two runs during that span. It needed only six hits in its sixth consecutive win to start the season.

“It was important for us just to keep some kind of consistency,” Arabians coach Bill Stoudt said. “We’re in trouble with our pitching right now, so to get a good performance out of Nate Frazier was very, very important.”

PH was forced to play its fourth game in five nights April 15 against Hamilton Heights. The teams battled back and forth in a slugfest that went right down to the final innings. Nick Hathcoat rallied the Arabians into a seven-run fifth-inning to turn a 9-5 deficit into a 12-9 advantage.

Hathcoat went 3-for-4 in the contest, including a three-run home run and four RBI. A struggling Sean Collins found his rhythm, too, as he went 2-for-3. Sophomore Tyler Holloway got the victory on the mound for the Arabians.

“Somebody has to step up, and Nick has been very consistent all year,” Stoudt said. “He kind of broke it open for us in that game.”

A revenge-hungry Anderson team came to the “Field of Dreams” on April 17 and ate the Arabians alive. The Indians recorded a 9-1 win without much resistance from the opposition. Pitcher Ethan Olvey took the loss for PH in a game that was tied in the fifth inning.

“It was pitching,” Stoudt said when asked what went wrong. “We knew we had the (Hoosier Heritage) Conference doubleheader the next night, and we had to save pitchers for that. To play five games in five nights in high school, you just can’t do it.”

Stoudt and his team went back to the drawing board after the loss to prepare for a doubleheader with Delta on Friday. Collins, the ace of the pitching staff, started on the mound in the first game and the Arabians looked sharp. They took a 5-2 lead after Hathcoat sent a 2-RBI blooper into right field in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Collins would be replaced by Tyler Holloway because of a bicep injury that Stoudt said will “put him on the mend for a few days.”

After retiring three consecutive batters in the fourth inning, Holloway began to struggle. The Eagles would score the final six runs of the contest to send PH to its second consecutive loss, 8-5.

The losing streak didn’t last long, as the Arabians posted an emphatic 10-0 win to split games with Delta.

“We did some better things in the second game. We had better at-bats, and Allen Thompson pitched an outstanding game on the mound,” Stoudt said. “Whenever you get outstanding pitching, you’re always going to have a chance.”