Connell, River View too much for Royal baseballers

ROYAL CITY - Connell and River View were just too much for the Royal High baseball team last week, and the Knights finished the SCAC East campaign with a 1-9 record.

However the season is not quite over. The Knights play Wahluke this week and Pateros next week in non-league action.

Last week, Connell won, 15-5 and 14-0. The River View games were much better with 4-2 and 5-1 scores. Connell is leading the league and ranked high in the state.

"They are very good," coach Daren Christensen said.

Kaden Jenks started the first game and did a solid job pitching. Connell had few earned runs.

"We had the same trouble that we have had all year with not making plays that we should make," Christensen said.

In the second game Aaron Johnson started and had an experience he hadn't had all year. The Eagles scored 10 runs in the first inning.

"There were not any errors. They just hit the ball hard and in the gaps," Christensen said. Johnson pitched better after that, but the damage had been done.

In the River View games, there were notable highlights for the Knights. Sam Christensen started and allowed only four runs in five innings. Johnson added two scoreless innings of relief to give the Knights a chance.

"We had the winning runs on base and just couldn't get the clutch hit," coach Christensen said.

Jenks had a great game offensively, going 3-4 at the plate. He started the second game and delivered a good performance from the mound.

The Panthers opened up with three runs to start the game, and then Jenks settled down and kept the score close. The Knights had runners on base and once again couldn't get a clutch hit in the 5-1 loss.

In action a week earlier, Royal dropped 10-0 and 10-4 games to Burbank.

In the first game, sophomore Sam Christensen got his first start of the year. He had a solid performance but the defense was lacking.

"We need to make the plays that we are supposed to make and a few that we aren't suppose to make, and we will win games," coach Christensen said. "In the last four games, we are not making those plays, which extends innings for the other teams."

When Sam left the game, the score was 4-0. The Knights brought in senior Johnny Montoya. Again the defense had some errors, and the final score ended up 10-0.

In the second game, Royal started Johnson, who had another solid performance. But just as in the first game, errors played a big part.

Burbank scored three runs in the top of the first inning. Royal answered with four runs to go up 4-3.

Johnson had a double followed by a walk by Sam. Jenks had a RBI single that scored a run.

Teddy Mead laced a line drive that scored two runs, and he ended up at third. Montoya followed that with a fielder's choice that scored Mead. But that rally was all the scoring for the Knights.

Jenks came on in relief and pitched a scoreless two innings to finish the game.