Rivals baseball shut out by Klahowya

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The East Jefferson Rivals were shut out against the Klahowya High Eagles on Friday in Chimacum, losing 18-0 in a one-sided affair.

“Tonight’s loss was a tough one,” said Rivals Head Coach Ben Lozano.

“We’ve got a couple guys that were injured so they couldn’t play today, but we played a very good team,” he said.

After losing to the Eagles 20-1 in their previous game March 16 away from home, the Rivals were hoping to get even with the Eagles, but had to play without starting catcher Cash Holmes who was sidelined with a hip injury.

The game started off with Klahowya earning a few base hits and scoring one run in the first inning.

Klahowya had the bases loaded at one point in the opening inning, but solid pitching from Owen Thornton and infield teamwork between Brody Moore, Ryan Popp, and Nate Nayler minimized Klahowya’s scoring chances.

Marcus Ritch started off for the Rivals and cracked a fly ball to right field for a double. The Rivals failed to capitalize on offense, however, and the Eagles led 1-0 going into the second inning.

The Rivals were off to a good start defensively in the second inning after left fielder Aaron Glanz caught a deep hit into left field.

Unfortunately for EJ, the Eagles started to heat up. Multiple line drives, stolen bases, and errors on the Rivals’ side left Klahowya up 10-0 by the time EJ returned to the plate.

The EJ offense wasn’t much better. The Rivals struck out three times in a row to finish the second inning still scoreless.

EJ improved in the third inning, preventing the Eagles from gaining more than two runs, but still couldn’t find their form on the offensive end. The third inning finished with a score of 12-0 Eagles.

Rivals player Brody Moore shifted from second base to relief pitcher in the fourth inning, and held Klahowya at bay. EJ earned two flyouts to keep Klahowya from scoring again. The Eagles continued to soar by scoring another eight runs in the fifth inning and wrapping the game up in the sixth.

The final score was 18-0 with the Eagles on top after six innings.

“They were a couple notches better than us and they’re a well-coached team,” Lozano said. “I think we played them a little better than we did the last time we played them, and we get one more shot at them at the end of the season. So, hopefully, we’ll play them a little tighter.”

The Rivals had plenty of errors on the field but Klahowya’s pitching, perhaps, made the biggest difference.

“They’ve got some nice pitchers. The top of our [batting] order, I think, did fairly well against them,” Lozano said of Klahowya. “We did make a couple base-running errors today. Overall though, we still just have to keep working.”