Royal boys split doubleheader

ROYAL CITY - Royal High School played Quincy Saturday in a varsity-junior varsity baseball doubleheader, losing the first game and winning the second.

The Royal varsity dropped its game 11-6. The junior varsity won, 10-3.

Everything went wrong for Royal in the first two innings of the varsity game. There were five hit batters, several walks and several errors. The Jacks had only one earned run for the game.

"After a long week off, the rusty defense came through," coach Daren Christensen said.

Pressed into relief duty, Anthony Westcott did a good job slowing down the Jacks. He held them to three runs the rest of the way.

"We put the ball in play and had some good scoring opportunities but could not get the clutch hit to close the gap," Christensen said.

Christensen got a better look at his younger players in the second game. That was a blessing, considering Royal has had to cancel its junior varsity schedule.

Freshman Sam Christensen started on the mound and had a solid four innings with seven strikeouts. Sophomore Roberto Martinez came on in relief and did a great job, allowing only one run and striking out two batters.

Martinez also had a solid day at the plate, going 2-for-5 and scoring a run. Freshman catcher Jesse Santillan also had a good day, going 2-for-4 and scoring a run.

"It was really good to see the young kids get a chance to play and do a good job," Christensen said.

The next two weeks will be key for the varsity. Royal will go to Burbank this Saturday and host Connell next Tuesday. Then it will play at River View the following Saturday.