You can’t win a game in the first inning, but you can definitely lose it.

The Fraser Ramblers committed back-to-back errors in the first frame of their Monday afternoon game against the Lutheran North Mustangs, and the Mustangs capitalized to score three runs to jump-start their 4-1 victory in a Macomb County, non-league game.

“We didn’t execute in the first inning,” said Fraser head coach Matt Fishburn. “We had a few errors there, and they did (execute). So that gave them the lead, and we just could never execute to get it back. Kudos to their pitcher and their defense. … They played very well defensively.”

Singles by Addison Wodowski and Elise Mantay then by a double by Priscilla Guthrie drove in the three Mustang runs in the top of the first to put Lutheran North ahead of Fraser, who entered the game 6-0.

The Ramblers had a chance to chip into the lead in the second after leadoff singles by Gabby Gajewski and Jazlyn Wooten, but both runners were stranded.

That was part of the theme of the game on Monday for Fraser: missed opportunities.

Much of that had to do with the pitching and defensive excellence of the Mustangs. Starting pitcher Elizabeth Jones struck out the last two batters in the second inning to strand two. Then her relief, Megan Rocker, wiggled out of a two-on, nobody out jam again in the fourth by getting a K and inducing two weak ground balls.

With two on and two out in the bottom of the seventh, Gajewski ripped a hard ground ball up the middle, but Guthrie made a diving stab at shortstop and flipped it to second base for the force out.

“They work hard at those little things that can make a difference,” said LHN head coach Duane Anger. “Like there, that ball goes through, it could be a whole different ball game.”

Lutheran North errors led to Fraser offense, too, but only for one run compared to three; Isabel Wilson reached on an error, then, with a runner on third base, she tried to steal second, drawing a bad throw by catcher Mikenna Campisi, thereby allowing Irelyn Benarchik to trot home from third.

Catcher Mikenna Campisi, who Anger called “the best hitter on the team,” lengthened the Mustangs’ lead in the top of the seventh inning with an RBI single.

Jones finished with a final line of three innings with five hits, one walk, five strikeouts and one unearned run. Rocker threw the final four frames with zero runs on three hits, one walk and three strikeouts.

The Mustangs’ pitching staff, led by Rocker, is a strength of the team, and so is the defense behind them.

Now Anger needs to see his bats heat up. At 4-1, they’ve scored totals of 3, 6, 10 and 3 in their wins over Regina (twice), Orchard Lake St. Mary’s and, now, Fraser.

“We don’t hit as much as we need to if we want to keep carrying on,” Anger said. “But I think it really helps us, playing in the upper level of the Catholic League. We face so much good pitching. It really does prepare us for the rest of the season.

“When we’re playing the public schools, it’s a 4-3 count. When we’re playing a Catholic League, it’s a 3-2 (count). So the kids can’t be quite as patient, because, you know, the pitcher gets one strike, you have two strikes. But we need to work on staying off the high pitch. We really struggle with that. We do a lot of drills trying to break that. I thought we had got there, but you can see today we went right back to it.”

The Mustangs will continue to prepare for the postseason with non-league games this month against Romeo and Warren Woods Tower, some of the best squads Macomb County has to offer along with Fraser.

“We’re focusing on that, when the league’s over, we’re focused on the state tournament,” Anger said. “So that’s our goal, is to perform well, play, work hard, learn some things, try to make some adjustments, and who knows what can happen at the state tournament. Anything can happen.”

Fishburn said that, though the Ramblers are now officially in the losing column, it wasn’t a defeat that they need to be disappointed over.

“I just told my girls, you got to hate losing,” he said. “At the same time, we didn’t lose for lack of effort. It was just (that) they executed when they had the chance, and that was in that first inning. And they got one there in the top of the seventh. But you know, those three runs were the difference for sure.”

Wilson and Bednarchik led the Ramblers with two hits apiece as they out-hit LHN, 8-7.

Gajewski threw 2.1 innings in relief with one earned run crossing via two hits and two walks. She struck out four batters. Starting pitcher Camilla Dawood wasn’t credited for any of her three runs allowed.

Fishburn doesn’t expect the sloppy play and untimely hitting to become a trend — it hasn’t been yet — and it can’t be should they contend for a MAC White title against the likes of Marysville, St. Clair and others.

“I’ve told our girls for a while that all these close games, that’s what our league’s going to be like,” Fishburn said. “Nothing’s going to be easy. Anybody can bounce anybody on any given day. And you know, we got to come to play. We earned our way up to the White and now we got to show we can play there.”

Lutheran North improved to 4-1 and Fraser dropped to 6-1.