FERRIDAY — In Delta Charter School’s inaugural season of varsity athletics, ups and downs are more than expected.

Wednesday’s baseball game against Oak Grove High School saw some highs and lows for the Storm.

Through five innings, Delta Charter played powerhouse Oak Grove to a scoreless tie. It was in the top of the sixth inning, however, when the bottom fell out for the Storm, after the Tigers scored eight runs en route to claiming an 8-0 win.

“We preach seven innings, and we played (five) (Wednesday),” Delta Charter coach Jarrett Hoffpauir said. “Unfortunately, we fell a little short.

“To compete with those guys and scare them like that … You’re talking about a team that was in the (LHSAA Class 1A) state championship last year.”

Delta Charter (4-8, 0-1) appeared to have escaped the sixth-inning rally with limited damage after striking out what was perceived as the third out of the inning.

Yet the Storm failed to complete the out as Trenon Clark’s pitch skipped in the dirt before reaching the catcher’s mitt.

The Storm then proceeded to trot off the field, believing they’d just recorded the third out of the inning, allowing for Oak Grove to score its third run of the frame.

The Tigers then made the Storm pay for their costly mistake, recording a three-run double and a two-run home run, punctuating the rally.

“We made a few mistakes, and we had some calls that didn’t go our way,” Hoffpauir said.

Perhaps Delta Charter’s best scoring opportunity came in the fifth when it put runners on second and third with only one out, but back-to-back strikeouts ended the threat.

“That’s something that can’t happen,” Hoffpauir said. “You’ve got to grind those at-bats out and make something happen. I don’t care how hard you hit it, but you have to make the defense work.”

Despite the lopsided defeat, Hoffpauir said there was plenty that he did like, primarily on the defensive side, as the Storm recorded two nifty double plays.

Additionally, center fielder Freddie Mango demonstrated his top-flight speed in chasing down a fly ball deep in the left-center gap early on.

“We’re freshmen, sophomores and a few juniors, and I’ve got an eighth grader out there,” Hoffpauir said. “We proved to ourselves we could compete, and that’s huge for us.”

Clark went 5.2 innings, striking out two batters and allowing just two earned runs.

Carson Curtis led the Storm with two singles.

Delta Charter will be back in action March 31 when it hosts Beekman Charter.