MUSKEGON – On the bright side, the Muskegon Clippers collected their first home run of the season on Thursday night, when cleanup hitter Logan Hylek blasted a ball over the fence in left-center field at Marsh Field.

But the Clippers couldn’t muster much more offense and fell to the Royal Oak Leprechauns 9-2 in the first of a three-game weekend series.

The Clippers only managed five hits on the night and struck out 13 times.

The lack of offense, plus three costly errors, did not sit well with Clippers manager Logan Fleener.

“We had a ton of swings and misses all night long,” Fleener said. “Hylek took a good swing, that’s good to see, but we really struggled offensively and defensively tonight. You put yourself in a tough spot when you don’t hit a ton and you play really poorly defensively.”

The loss dropped the Clippers to 1-3 on the season. On one hand, it’s still very early and the team has plenty of time to turn things around. On the other hand, good starts are always nice, particularly when you open the season with a six-game home stand.

Fleener said the last two games of the series, on Saturday and Sunday nights at Marsh Field, will be pretty important for the team.

“When you get six games at home, start 1-3, you’ve to get the monkey off your back,” the manager said. “This needs to turn around quickly. Right now, we really got to focus on finding out how to win a game tomorrow. We’ve got to get one and play clean baseball.”

Fleener was not disappointed with his four pitchers, who combined to strike out 14 Leprechauns batters while scattering 11 hits.

Fleener thought they were victims of a lack of offense and spotty fielding.

Starter James Geshel pitched six innings and took the loss. He gave up four earned runs, struck out five and walked two. Relievers Ben Alderson, Nate Durham and Mason Glennie also pitched well.

“They got a lot of ground balls and lot of strikeouts,” Fleener said about his pitchers. “We just unfortunately didn’t back them up very well tonight.”

Royal Oak scored once in the first inning, four times in the fourth, twice in the sixth, then added single runs in the eight and ninth.

The Clippers scored their first run in the fourth inning when Hylek walked and eventually scored on a single by Trent Nelson. Hylek added his solo homer in the sixth.

Royal Oak starter Chris Schmees got the win, throwing five innings and striking out eight. Eli Hopkins had three hits and two RBIs for the visitors.