HUMBOLDT – The growing pains continued to mount for the Webster City baseball team here Wednesday night in a North Central Conference setback.

With underclassmen filling the majority of the positions by game’s end, the Lynx were unable to overcome eight errors in a 9-3 loss to Humboldt.

The Wildcats (6-3, 2-2 NCC) pounded the ball and built a 6-1 lead after three innings. WCHS (0-9, 0-4 NCC) didn’t go down quietly, however, and climbed to within 6-3 leading into the bottom of the sixth inning.

Humboldt put the contest out of reach with a three-spot in the bottom of the sixth.

“I’m very proud of the fight we showed,” WCHS head coach Mark Fisher said. “We gave ourselves a chance to stay in the game and be there at the end.

“Defensively it was another day where we made some really big plays, but also botched some routine plays. We are getting much better with situations, we just have to be able to make the routine plays consistently.”

Humboldt out hit WCHS 7-6, keyed by doubles from Brenden Schnell, Chris Witzke and Tyler McKibban. All of the Lynx hits were singles.

Romel Martinez went 2-for-4 and collected one RBI at the top of the WCHS lineup. Max Hackbarth added a single and RBI.

Schnell earned the win on the mound. He worked into the sixth inning before Austin Zylstra took over and slammed the door shut.

Seth Crouthamel was tagged with the loss. The WCHS senior southpaw walked three and struck out two in 4 1/3 innings of work.

The Lynx now have a couple days to rest before they host Iowa Falls-Alden on Monday at 7:15 p.m.