The River Ridge baseball team struggled defensively against Peninsula, recording seven errors in an 8-1 loss at home Tuesday afternoon.
River Ridge pitchers Aaron Leu and Cole Von Rueden allowed just seven hits against a strong Seahawks lineup, but defensive mishaps kept innings alive.
In the first, Peninsula put two on, including one via infield error, and Kaleb Copeland uncorked a three-run home run to left field to give the Seahawks a quick 3-0 start. River Ridge answered in the bottom of the first with an RBI single by Kellen Lentz.
After Lentz’s first-inning knock, the Hawks didn’t record another hit until the bottom of the fourth and then did not get another. Even with the lack of hits, River Ridge managed to put runners on via walks, but the Hawks left multiple runners stranded in five of the seven innings, including leaving the bases loaded in the seventh.
Meanwhile, the Seahawks continued to increase their lead, scoring directly off an error in the third and then two more off Hawks mistakes in the fourth.
“We threw the ball around too much. It’s hard to win games that way,” River Ridge head coach Ben Rood said. “But I still like the way they battled start to finish. Peninsula’s a good team. We left a ton of guys on base, but that’s baseball. I’m very happy with how we’ve been staying in games to start this year.”
River Ridge (5-3, 3-3 Puget Sound League) gets a rematch with Peninsula (7-0, 6-0 Puget Sound League) in Gig Harbor Wednesday afternoon before a non-league bout at Sequim on Friday.
