Royal boys beat Newport twice in baseball
ROYAL CITY - Playing at home for the first time last Thursday, Royal High School brought out the lumber and slugged Newport, 12-2 and 11-2 in non-league baseball.
The Knights finished the week on Saturday with a 3-1 effort, splitting with Goldendale. Goldendale won the first game, 8-5. Royal won the second, 7-0.
New coach Joe Avila was simply elated. His club had started the season with two losses at Zillah.
He especially liked the way his boys bounced back against Newport.
"Aaron Johnson, Berto Martinez, and Randy Dunn each pitched very well in game one. It was a solid team victory," Avila said.
Johnson led the attack at the plate. He smacked a double and a triple in his three at-bats. Sam Christensen singled twice and received a walk in his three trips to the plate.
Kaden Jenks started on the mound in the second game and threw three quality innings before Carson Gilbert took over and threw "extremely well" in two innings of relief.
Gilbert went 2-2 at the plate and stole a base. Kai Jenks batted 2-4 with two RBI, and Teddy Mead hit a towering two-run triple to straight away centerfield in the fourth inning.
"It was a total team effort in both victories," Avila said.
The Knights had problems to start the first Goldendale game, trailing 6-0 after two innings. There was fine pitching from starter Kaden Jenks, but errors led to four unearned runs. Jenks struck out three batters and gave up only two earned runs in five innings of work.
The Knights did not lose for lack of hitting. Sam Christensen batted 3-4 with two doubles and a RBI, and he scored twice. Randy Dunn went 2-3, and Carson Gilbert went 2-4 with a double and a RBI.
"Today was a good day,"Avila said. "We started slow in the first game, giving up six in the first two innings, but the boys never quit and battled until the end. We chipped away and brought the tying run to plate in the seventh. We just fell a little short."
The Knights got a sparkling effort from starter Aaron Johnson in the first game. He went the distance with four strikeouts.
Teddy Mead had the good swing going. He batted 4-4 with a double, two RBI and two runs scored.
Riley Lefler went 2-2, scored a run and put down a sacrifice bunt that put runners at second and third base with one out in the third inning, and that led to a run.
Lefler also played well in the field, making a beautiful running catch to end the fifth inning.
Carson Gilbert had a hit, a walk and two runs scored. Juan Niebla had a hit, a RBI and a run scored. The Knights were consistent at the plate, scoring in the first, second, third, fifth and sixth innings.
"Game two is as close as we've come to playing up to our expectations," Avila said. "We executed on the mound, in the field and in the batters box. It was a complete team effort as each guy contributed."