Errors spoil day for Royal

ROYAL CITY - Royal High School outhit Burbank, 14-5, last Saturday and still lost a baseball game 10-8. Errors and walks did the Knights in.

The Coyotes also won the second game, 8-3, to sweep the South Central A Conference East doubleheader and leave Royal with a 2-4 record.

The Knights host Connell Tuesday at 3 p.m. Saturday they travel to River View for an 11 a.m. doubleheader.

"Depending on what happens on Tuesday, those last two games could determine which team qualifies for the district playoffs," coach Daren Christensen said.

Last weekend was tough for the Knights. In the first game Burbank jumped out to an 8-0 lead after three innings, fueled by multiple errors by the Knights.

Royal came back strong in the top of the fourth and closed the gap to 8-5. The Knights tied in the top of the sixth with a clutch 2-out hit by sophomore Teddy Mead to right center that scored Anthony Westcott and Kent Christensen.

Then the pitching failed. In the bottom of that inning the first two batters walked and came around to score the winning runs.

"We out hit the Coyotes 14-5, but we also doubled their errors and more than doubled their walks," coach Christensen said. "We have to be better in not extending innings and giving the other team extra chances to score.

In the second game the Coyotes jumped out to another lead, 3-0 after one inning. Royal came back and closed the gap to 3-2 after two innings.

In the third it should have been a three up and three down, but an error was committed that allowed a runner to be safe on first base and ignite a 3-run rally.

"We were never able to get any clutch hitting with runners in scoring position multiple times during the game," coach Christensen said.