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A thunderstorm cut short the Maryland Black Barons' game Friday evening against the Maryland Nationals, but it went long enough for the Barons to have one costly bad inning in a 6-1 loss.

The Barons fell to 1-8 in the Maryland Collegiate Baseball League and 5-8 overall. Coach Stephen Moses described the setback as a "microcosm" of many of the team's losses this summer, noting that the Barons frequently have been burned by one bad inning.

Brian Whitmore, an Eleanor Roosevelt High graduate, allowed five runs on five hits in the bottom of the third. He hit one Nationals' batter with the bases loaded, then permitted a two-run single to Joe Pohlman, who was thrown out at second attempting to take the extra base.

Meanwhile the offense mustered only one run on three hits against Nationals' starter Seth Bova. Katim Butler scored in the fourth inning when Mike Kerdock grounded into a double play. Moses said his players have struggled to adjust to the wooden bats used in MCBL games after playing with aluminum bats in high school and college games.

"We haven't been able to score many runs hitting with wooden bats," Moses said. "Other than that, defensively we've been pretty good. We only had one error [on Friday]. I thought Brian Whitmore threw well. It was his first start all summer. Considering that it was his first game, I thought he did OK."

Trailing 6-0 heading to the top of the fourth, Butler gave the Black Barons a glimmer of hope with a bloop single. Rueben Castro (High Point High/Prince George's Community College) followed with a sharp single, and Butler took third on the play. Butler then scored when Kerdock grounded into a double play.

"I thought their pitcher was OK," said Kerdock, a Roosevelt graduate who played this past spring at Northwest Shoals Community College in Alabama. "We just weren't able to get many hits. But this is a good team to be a part of. We're getting better and we have fun playing together."

Kerdock had a one-out single in the seventh, and Gwynn Park High graduate Brandon Proctor drew a two-out walk. Both runners collected stolen bases before Friendly High grad Jason Barnes lined out to end the inning.

Before the Black Barons could step to the plate in the top of the eighth, the umpires ordered both teams off the field due to lightning. After a series of lightning strikes that appeared to be getting closer, followed by rain and hail, the teams agreed at 7:45 p.m. that the game would not resume.

The Black Barons are slated to play against the Southern Maryland Cardinals at Blue Crabs' Stadium in Waldorf on Saturday, then will have a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m. Sunday at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt against the Putty Hill Panthers Blue.