A trip to Roanoke last week provided the first competition of the season for the James River baseball team. The Knights dropped a 5-2 decision on Thursday after a Wednesday opener at Riverheads was rained out.
“This was the first game competition we’ve had this spring,” River coach Chance Henry noted about the PH game. “Our only scrimmage got cancelled so all we’ve had were intersquads. We lost but I feel confident with where we are.”
Cam Saunders opened on the mound for the Knights and settled in after a rough first inning.
“Cam did a great job of keeping us in the game,” said Henry. “Our pitching and defense were at a high level to start the year and our bats will come around in time as we haven’t seen much live arms yet. We hit a few balls hard, just right at defenders.”
The Knights are back on the road tomorrow, Thursday, for a 7:30 p.m. game at Liberty High. Then they’re off until April 3 when they host Radford for a Three Rivers District game and their home opener.
“We’re a very young team and we’re going to need our sophomores and freshmen to step up if we want to be successful,” said Henry. “Although we came out on the wrong end of the first game we believe in our guys and we will kick it into gear soon.”
