Heading into Tuesday night, the Knights (4-3) prepared to take on the Plant Panthers (5-1) in this year’s rivalry game. After several unforced errors in the first two innings, the Knights were unable to come back and lost 3-2.

The night started off rocky for Robinson, as a hit-by-pitch got Plant’s first runner on the bases. What would have been the final out of the inning turned into a single for Mike Paleaz (’17) off of an error. Another error in the next at-bat allowed Chase Sanguinetti (’18) to bring home Plant’s first run. Pitcher Peter Feinman (’17) hit a single in the bottom of the first, but the Knights were unable to score. A pick-off ended the inning.

Errors continued to plague the Knights’ defense into the second inning as a wild throw to first and a fielding error brought in Zach Koch (‘17) all the way from first base to score Plant’s second run of the night. An RBI ground out increased Plant’s lead to 3-0.

The Knights left two stranded on first and second after a line drive to left by Carter Fair (’19) and single up the left field line by Mathew Chowning (’17).

After the miscues by his defense in the first two innings, Feinman settled in, allowing only one hit in the third and fourth and striking out three of seven batters. An RBI single by Chowning took the score to 3-2 in the bottom of the fourth.

Feinman went on to retire the side in the fifth and sixth.

“I pitched one of the best games I’ve ever pitched, battled out there, threw strikes,” Feinman said. He also went two-for-three at the plate.

Second-baseman Luis Estevez (’17) made all three outs in the sixth.

Both teams left a runner on base in the seventh. The final score was 3-2, Plant.

To Feinman, last night’s loss could have been avoided.

“We had that game. If we made all our routine plays, we win that probably 2-1. So I’m frustrated that we couldn’t come out with a win,” he said. “Honestly, I think it’s mental. Physically, we make all those plays in practice. Mentally, we’ve got to step up.”

“Biggest challenge we face is self-induced errors,” Chowning said. “We just got to do what we can. When we play against D-1 athletes like that, we got to be perfect. And we just weren’t perfect tonight.”

The Knights take the field next tomorrow against Freedom at 4 p.m. in their first game of the Saladino Tournament.