Scouts for the Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox and Philadelphia Phillies had planned to watch Dakota Freese pitch for Cedar Rapids Washington Thursday night, but a rainy day kept them away from the ballpark.

Freese owes Mother Nature a hug for chasing the scouts away prior to next week's draft, because they probably would not have been impressed by what transpired.

Freese returned from a seven-game suspension and had a rough outing as the Warriors lost to Cedar Rapids Jefferson, 9-6, in a Mississippi Valley Conference game at Washington.

Freese walked seven batters, uncorked three wild pitches and hit a batter in six innings. He took the loss in his first appearance for the Warriors this season.

"Not good," he said. "I couldn't control a thing."

Freese, a lanky righthander, normally has good control with a low-90's fastball and a sharp curve, but he struggled to find the strike zone against the J-Hawks.

Freese had a miserable time in the sixth inning when the J-Hawks scored five runs on three hits, two walks, three wild pitches, a passed ball, three stolen bases, two bunts and an error. He threw 32 pitches in the sixth, raising his pitch count to 104 (unofficially) and ending his night on the mound.

"He was pretty pumped up coming in to today, and obviously he didn't throw as well as he would have liked," Washington Coach Brent Henry remarked. "But he's a competitor. He'll come back next week and he'll pitch for us again and he'll be lights-out."

Freese struggled with his eyeglasses Thursday night, which may have been part of the problem.

"It was kind of hard for me to see the plate. My glasses fogged up all the time," he said. "It kind of made it real blurry, but I'm not going to use that as an excuse. I should have been able to hit the strike zone. I just couldn't put it together on the mound."

Freese missed the first seven games of the season while serving a suspension, but he's been practicing with the Warriors and pitched at a Perfect Game event in Florida last week. He said he wasn't rusty and said his arm "felt great."

Freese, an all-state selection last season, struck out seven batters and allowed four hits.

Washington led, 3-1, after five innings as Freese worked out of trouble, but he ran out of luck in the sixth inning when the J-Hawks (2-4, 1-2) plated five runs for a 6-3 lead. Drew Striegel had a bunt single to help spark the uprising, and Jordan McCormick followed with a perfect suicide squeeze.

"We went to 'small ball' and that was effective for us," Jefferson Coach Mike Kuba said. "We tried to put some pressure on them."

Alex Larson pitched 4 1/3 innings for the J-Hawks, including three shutout innings to start the game. He walked four batters in the fourth and fifth innings, helping the Warriors (4-4, 1-2) score three runs, and left with his team trailing, 3-1.

"Alex did a nice job," Kuba said.

Jefferson grabbed a 9-3 lead in the top of the seventh inning, with McCormick delivering a two-run double. Washington scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh and brought the tying run to the plate, but McCormick came in to pitch for the J-Hawks and got the final out on a strikeout.

Washington and Jefferson will play the second game of their two-game series at Jefferson Friday at 7 p.m.

JEFFERSON (9)
Unkel, 2b, 2 0 2 1, Rooney, cf, 4 0 0 0, Larson, p-3b, 4 1 1 0, Hollingsworth, rf-1b, 2 2 1 1, Gruwell, pr, 0 1 0 0, Kramer, ss, 2 2 1 0, Striegel, dh, 3 1 1 0, Jourdan, c, 0 0 0 0, McCormick, 1b-p, 3 1 1 3, Techau, 3b, 2 0 0 0, Goodell, p-rf, 1 1 0 0, Knox, lf, 3 0 0 0. Totals 26 9 7 5.

WASHINGTON (6)
N.Dostal, 3b-2b, 5 0 1 0, Troendle, cf, 4 0 0 0, White, ss, 4 0 0 0, Puk, 1b, 3 2 1 0, Kacena, c, 2 0 0 0, Hand, cr, 0 1 0 0, Freese, p-3b, 3 2 1 1, Rhatigan, dh, 4 1 1 1, Hogg, rf, 0 0 0 0, Zingula, 2b/p, 1 0 1 0, Barton, pr, 0 0 0 0, G. Dostal, lf, 2 0 1 3.

Jefferson      000 105 3 - 9 7 3
Washington  000 210 3 - 6 6 1

Larson, Goodell (5), McCormick (7) and Jourdan. Freese, Zingula (7) and Kacena. W - Goodell. L - Freese. Sv - McCormick.
2B - Hollingsworth, McCormick, G. Dostal. SB - Unkel 2, Gruwell, Kramer, McCormick, Goodell.