GROVE CITY — Grove City got a sneak peak at a potential playoff foe Monday afternoon.

Coming off four straight victories, the Eagles were able to keep things interesting for six innings before a seventh-inning grand slam slammed the door shut on their hopes of a comeback victory in a 9-0 setback to Gen. McLane in District 10 inter-region action at Forese Field.

“It wasn’t our best outing,” Grove City coach Brandon Jones said. “We knew we’d be facing a quality baseball team and a team we could potentially face in the playoffs. I think our mindset was good and we were ready for the challenge, but our bats were a little cold and we weren’t able to recover.”

The Lancers (3-0) were coming off a week that saw them outscore Sodus (NY) and Cameron (WV) 32-1.

“Even though the scoreboard said it was 9-0, I think if we tighten a few things up it could’ve been a closer ballgame,” Jones said. “It’s early in the season and this is a great way to see where we stand right now and what we need to work on to improve.”

Against Gen. McLane’s potent lineup, Grove City (4-2) could ill afford any hiccups Monday afternoon and plenty arose over the game’s first three innings. With a pair of Eagles hurlers yielding a combined four hits and four free passes in the early going, their defense couldn’t pick up the slack for their teammates with three errors and allowing the Lancers take a 4-0 lead.

“Little things make the biggest difference,” Jones said. “We weren’t throwing strikes and were giving up free bases when you add that to fielding blunders, it can snowball on you pretty quickly.”

With McLane scoring two runs in the first and single runs in the second and third innings, the Eagles’ offense struggled to gain any traction against McLane left-handed starter Kellen Chelton – who yielded just three hits and struck out eight in six innings.

“When the bats aren’t productive, it can make for a long day,” Jones said. “He did a great job of keeping us off-balance. He had off-speed pitches he could throw for strikes. He did his job. We could’ve done a better job with some of our at-bats, but it’s still early and that’s something we can work on.”

Already down 4-0 and being no-hit, Apollo Como opened the Grove City fourth with a walk and advanced to second when Layne Rider broke up Chelton’s no-hit bid with a hard-hit grounder to second base, but three consecutive strikeouts ended the threat.

“That was a momentum killer,” Jones said. “The bottom of the lineup needs to find ways to be more productive and find ways to get on base.”

After Gen. McLane plated its fifth run in the fifth inning, the Eagles’ offense appeared on the verge of heating up with a little one-out magic. Rider legged out an infield single and appeared to score on a Gavin Purdy triple to left-center field, but the game’s officials ruled the ball rolled under the fence for a ground-rule double and sending Rider back to third base. Chelton was able to get out of the jam with back-to-back outs.

“We had guys in scoring position with less than two outs (after Purdy’s double),” Jones said. “We have to be more productive in the box and put the ball in play.

“We can’t give up strike outs. We have to put it in play and make them make plays.”

In the seventh, Purdy had no such luck with all-state shortstop Jackson Kiser turned on a 3-2 offering, sending into the trees outside of the left-field fence.

“The kid can hit the baseball and props to him for putting a good swing on that ball,” Jones said. “With the bases loaded and a full count, Gavin was just trying to put the ball over the plate and the kid jumped on it.”

Notes: Gen. McLane had 10 hits off five Grove City pitchers and were led by Kiser – who was a double shy of a cycle – and Jordan Cannon (three singles). … Six of the eight General McLane runners left on base were in scoring position. … The Eagles only had three errors. … Grove City stranded seven baserunners. … Grove City struck out nine times, while accepting five free passes.