The Knights played the Jefferson Dragons on March 23 at home. With the matchup appearing even–Robinson had a record of 5-6 while Jefferson was 5-4–a good game was in store. Owen Brown (’22) started for Robinson with an earned run average 3.23.

Right out the gate, Robinson fumbled and let Jefferson take the early lead. Catcher Tucker Wehrman (’23) overthrew down to second base to get a runner out, only this allowed the runner on third to advance home and the other runner to move to third. The top of the inning ended 4-0 Jefferson.

“[The team had] to trust our ability to produce runs and try to just chip away rather than get it all back,” Head Coach Alex Barron said. Robinson managed to fight back, ending the inning with 4-2 Jefferson.

The game remained back and forth with each team only gaining a point of two in the span of three innings. By the top of the fourth, the score was 5-3 Jefferson. For both teams, the fourth inning was three-up-three-down.

At the top of the fifth, Brown was replaced by Tyler Kirkner (’22). After a failed attempted to get two outs, the team managed to snag a double play. Wehrman quickly caught a ball and threw it to first basemen Robert Satin (’23) to get that second out.

The top of the sixth saw an error in the infield. A dribbler was hit between the pitcher and first basemen. Both boys ran to it with no one at first to throw the ball to. Yet, the team bounced back by getting one of the runners from Jefferson in a pickle between third and second base. While this stand-off caused a run to come in, it eventually lead to the third out: 7-3 Jefferson.

Bottom of the sixth saw a bounce-back for the Knights. The inning started out strong, quickly leading to bases loaded and runners coming in. With two outs, Jacob Maskin (’22) entered the game for the first time to hit and didn’t disappoint. He hit the ball into dead center field, driving in two runs, but as the third runner came in, he got tagged at home for the third out: 7-5 Jefferson.

The top of the seventh was strong with the Knights getting a quick three outs. Finally, with their last chance at bat, hopes were high for the team. Wehrman started off strong with a single into center. Ben Kim (’21) sent a bomb out into center field but unfortunately was caught. This was Unbeknownst to Aleks Yarich (’24), running for Wehrman, who continued to third base. That lead to the second out. The game ended with a strikeout.

Even with 15 total hits, which was more than Jefferson’s nine, the Knights just narrowly lost to Jefferson, 7-5.

“So far this year we’ve gotten off to a slower start than we’d like,” Kim said, “but over the past few games I can definitely see the team beginning to turn it around as a whole.”

The Knights’ next game will be against Durant Cougars on March 25 at home.