Delphi baseball team was on the road all week, winning its first two over Hoosier Conference foe Sheridan, 13-2 in five innings, and over Tri- County 7-1, before dropping three-in-a-row. The losses were at Class 1A's #3-ranked Central Catholic, 6-1, and a closely-played double-header at conference-rival Benton Central by scores of 4-2 and 3-1.

In the midst of seven consecutive away games, the Oracles, who started the season at 6-2, have now lost nine of their last 13 contests, to drop below .500 for the first time this season. Defensive miscues at critical times have occurred much more often than the much-needed clutch hit crunch time.

At Sheridan

Dustin Salyer was a perfect 4-for-4 with four RBIs and A.J. Beckett and Tyler Willis combined for a two-hit shutout on the mound as Delphi cruised to an easy victory via the 10-run rule last week.

The Oracles jumped ahead with a run in the first inning, before exploding for six runs in the 2nd and five more in 3rd to put the game out of reach early.

Beckett helped his cause on the mound with two hits and two RBIs, while Tanner Cripe also had a pair of hits.

Dayton Rumell and Neil Snoeberger each had a hit and two RBIs, while Shane Hyman and Karson Bender each added an RBI apiece to Delphi's 10-hit attack.

At Tri-County

The Oracles got another great pitching outing and a solid defensive effort Thursday night against the Cavaliers (1-14), led by Willis' complete game on the mound, allowing six hits and striking out six.

Delphi also pounded-out seven hits, led by Bender with two hits and 2 RBIs and Hyman with a pair of hits. Salyer had a triple and an RBI, Cripe an RBI with sacrifice fly, while Snoeberger and Austin Hawn had a hit each.

At Central Catholic

Despite out-hitting the Knights 9-5, the Oracles could only put one run on the scoreboard while allowing all six runs during a costly 4th inning that included three errors, a hit-batsman and a walk.

Salyer again led the way offensively, going 3-for-4 with Delphi's only RBI, while both Hawn and Andrew Flora had two hits apiece, followed by Cripe and Hyman with a hit apiece against CC (13-3).

Cripe had a nice outing on the mound, tossing a complete game and not allowing an earned run. He was letdown by his defense, which committed five errors during the contest.

At Benton Central

The Oracles played better in the twin-bill, but could never come up with the big hit that could have made a difference. They dropped two close games to fall to 2-4 in Hoosier Conference action.

Salyer led the six-hit attack in the first game with two hits, while both Hyman and Bender added RBI doubles along with a double from Beckett and a hit from Snoeberger.

Hawn pitched his first complete game of the season, striking out four to increase his team-lead to 42 in that category, but was again hindered with three errors by his defense in the field.

Delphi (10-11) was held to only three hits in the second game, all three doubles, including two and the lone Oracle RBI from Salyer, who knocked in Hawn, who doubled to lead-off the 4th inning before him.

Beckett and Salyer were effective on the hill, allowing only one earned run and three hits between them as another late-inning fielding gaffe allowed the two game-deciding runs to cross the plate.

Delphi completes its extended road trip with a Hoosier Conference game Tuesday night at West Lafayette (too late for print), before hosting the Red Devils in the back-half of the homeand home series on Wednesday at 5 p.m., then traveling to Class 1A's #12-ranked North White on Thursday night for a 4:30 p.m. start and to Tipton on Saturday for a conference double-header starting at 10 a.m.