Knights stop Granger twice on diamond

ROYAL CITY - Royal broke into the win column in high school baseball Saturday in spectacular fashion behind a no-hitter by freshman hurler Kaden Jenks.

The Knights beat the Spartans, 23-0, in the first of two games while Jenks struck out 13 batters. They won the second game, 18-1, behind more good young pitching. The hitting was solid all afternoon.

Jenks was an offensive terror, going 3-5 at the plate with a run batted in. Junior Kai Jenks had a super game, going 3-4 and scoring 4 times. Every starting player, except one, had at least two hits.

"The team did a good job waiting for good pitches to hit and putting the ball in play," coach Daren Christensen said.

In the second game, sophomore Sam Christensen pitched three solid innings with six strikeouts, one hit and two walks. And he went 2-3 at the plate and scored twice.

Kai Jenks continued his productive day, going 1-2 with two walks and three runs. Once again, nearly all of the Knights recorded a hit, with the team going 28-57 for the day.

The twin killing improved Royal's record to 2-3 after three thumpings by some tough competition. On Tuesday the Knights lost 16-4 to Quincy in what started out as a promising game.

Royal jumped to 2-0 lead. Senior Johnny Montoya singled up the middle, scoring Junior Teddy Mead. Then Freshman Kaden Jenks singled to score Aaron Johnson. The Knights led, 2-1, after one inning.

Then Quincy hits that were nearly outs started to find holes. The Jacks scored seven runs before Royal responded.

"Quincy's batters were not getting great hits, but they were just enough to make it over the infielders' heads," Christensen said.

With the score 8-2 in the third, Montoya singled to lead off the inning. and then Kaden Jenks tripled him in. Then Quincy pulled away.

"The pitching actually did an okay job, with Sam Christensen and Kaden Jenks finishing the last three innings," Christensen said.