Knights joust Jacks

ROYAL CITY – A seven-run fifth inning helped propel the Royal Knights over Quincy Saturday morning, eventually going on to win 9-5 over the Jacks.

“A lot of progress,” Royal Head Coach Brandon Jenks said. “We’re a very young team, missing a few kids that we would have liked to have out, but these kids are growing and getting better every day. A lot of perseverance.”

Having entered the bottom of the fifth inning down 2-1 to Quincy, Royal sophomore Benson Jenks tied the game on a bases-loaded walk and the Knights later added three runs on a passed ball to take a 5-2 lead. Ashton Kynaston and Bryan Larsen added RBI later in the inning, to help the Knights finished with an 8-2 lead.

“Baseball’s a huge part of that, it’s a game of runs and emotion,” Brandon Jenks said. “It’s massive – especially for young kids – to feel it a little bit, get in a groove and feel like they can do it every time no matter what’s going on in a game.”

The Jackrabbits answered with three runs in the top of the sixth inning, but they were unable to retake the lead and fell 9-5 in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader.

“I told the kids ‘We’ve got to flush it,’” Quincy Head Coach Seth Longwill said. “Attitude and effort, we can control. We can control our performance the rest of the way. They did a good job battling back that next inning. I was proud of them, not just folding and quitting.”

Royal senior Carter Noftoe recorded five strikeouts over seven full innings pitched on Saturday morning, two of which came in the top of the seventh inning to help close out the game in favor of the Knights.

“It’s the best I’ve felt in a while, definitely,” Noftoe said. “I don’t get many strikeouts usually, but that was nice.”

“He finished with about 80 pitches or so, really efficient,” Jenks said. “They swung the bat, put the ball in play and he got them out. Carter (Noftoe) did a great job today.”

Quincy’s starter, sophomore Evander Stephens, recorded seven strikeouts in the first four innings before being taken out due to the pitch limit.

“The way the pitch count is, he could only throw 74 (pitches) to be able to pitch on Tuesday for a league game,” Longwill said. “As a competitor, he wanted to finish the game for sure, but we had to yank him.”

The win snapped a three-game skid for the Knights, who will host Zillah for a doubleheader on Tuesday.

“We’ll take (wins) however we can get them, and these guys are starting to believe in themselves a little bit,” Jenks said. “I think it will lead to a better performance.”

The loss moved the Jackrabbits to 3-4 this season. After the nightcap on Saturday against Royal, Quincy will face Cashmere at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

“We’re young, we’re trying to give guys a chance to work themselves out of jams,” Longwill said. “Had to make move, just had to throw strikes.”

Results from the nightcap of Saturday’s doubleheader were not available in time for press deadline, but check out this story on www.columbiabasinherald.com for the result from the game.

Box Score

Quincy 1-1-0-0-0-3-0: 5

Royal 0-1-0-0-7-1-X: 9