ROYAL CITY — The Royal City Knights baseball team earned themselves two wins Tuesday evening against College Place. 

“It means a lot whether you win or lose these league games,” said Knights coach Brandon Jenks. 

In game one College place got on the board in the top of the first inning with two points. The Knights would go on to tie the game at two in the fourth inning and then in the sixth inning they scored three runs earning them a 5-2 victory. 

Jackson Larsen helped the Knights earn their win as he allowed only five hits and two runs over six innings, striking out three and walking five. He had an exceptional sixth inning where he completely shut down the opponent’s offense, said the coach. 

“We didn’t hit the ball great, but we played really good defense,” said Jenks. 

The team continued their success into the second game where they won 11-0. The team collected three runs in the first, another in the second and seven in the bottom of the fourth leading to the game ending in the fifth inning due to the 10-run rule. 

Ben Jenks pitched for the Knights in the second game where he surrendered two hits and zero runs, striking out five and walking three in five innings.  

“It’s a big win to sweep that one and keep us in contention to be a league champ which is the goal for the team,” said Jenks. 

He said the Knights struggled in their last game, which was on the road against DeSales, so this game was going to be important to not only keep improving in the league standings but also bring them back mentally. 

The number one thing that Jenks had his team focus on was mental preparation, which made sure players processed their jobs and knew what they were supposed to do in any given scenario. The second is just stressing the fact that the players need to be having fun. 

“Get your mind in the right spot just leads to better results which makes it a lot more fun to play and win ball games,” he said. 

The Knights will be looking forward to all league match double headers until the end of the regular season. If the team continues to play like they did against College Place they have a great chance of making it in the running for the championship, said Jenks. 

They will prepare for the coming stretch of games the same way that they prepared for Tuesday, making sure they are mentally prepared and ready to have fun, said the coach. 

“Baseball is a thousand little things, it’s from base running to hitting approach to even the pitch so (we’re) working on all the little details that tighten up the team,” he said. “It might be one little mistake that lets them advance one base, so we’re working on all the little things and having a great time doing it.” 

The Knights will be on the road for a doubleheader against Kiona-Benton on Tuesday with the first game starting at 3 p.m. 

    Ben Jenks pitched for the Knights in game two where in five innings he surrendered two hits and zero runs, struck out five and walked three.
  

    Ernie Weeks pitched relief for an inning in the first game where he allowed zero runs and drove in two runs in the second game.
  

    Nolan Wright helped the team score multiple runs in both games by laying out a sacrifice bunt in game one and drawing walks in game two.