Through the first four games of the season, the Sedona Red Rock High School baseball team has not gotten desired results, most recently losing 12-4 to Winslow High School and 2-1 to Kingman Academy High School.

Each of the Scorpions’ [1-3] losses came under different circumstances. On Friday, March 10, against Winslow, the team rallied to tie the game at three, but then gave up seven runs during the following two innings to put things out of reach.

“[Freshman pitcher Michael] Lagorio kind of fell behind,” Red Rock head coach Craig Eagle said. “It was their third time around [to bat] and they were just starting to hit him. They’re a good hitting team and he pitched well for a freshman against a 3A team.”

Junior catcher Wyatt Ross did not play, a factor Eagle considered to be key. Ross is the team’s cleanup hitter and a leader on defense.

“Missing Wyatt hurt us a lot, he’s such a good backstop and it affected the team’s mentality,” Eagle said.

Previously, Eagle talked about how hitting was a worrisome attribute for the Scorpions, but they collected nine hits against the Bulldogs.

“I liked our hitters, they came through,” Eagle said. “We were hitting pretty well. If we had Wyatt it would’ve been a different outcome.”

Down 3-0 in the third, junior third baseman Michael Ortega singled home senior shortstop Randy Rodriguez and sophomore left fielder Ryan Farmer. Junior center fielder Winston Cox then tripled to tie the game.

But the Bulldogs responded with three more runs in the bottom half of the inning and tacked on four more in the fourth, capped off by a three-run home run to open a 10-3 lead. Ortega tripled in the fifth to score his team’s fourth and final run.

“It was a mental letdown,” Eagle said. “It’s tough sometimes to come back and tie the game then let runs in.”

Lagorio and freshman Jake Hobson teamed up on the pitcher’s mound. Score aside, Eagle is happy to give the pair valuable experience, to see them throw strikes and grow for the future. For now they need to work on their breaking pitches; a good fastball and curveball are an effective combination in Conference 2A, according to Eagle.

Farmer and Ortega led the Scorpions with two hits each.

Against Kingman Academy on Thursday, March 9, the loss came down to errors.

The Tigers’ second run was scored on an error in the third. With the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the seventh, Cox struck out looking to end the game.

Ross put Red Rock on the board with a solo home run to start the fourth.

Rodriguez, the team’s ace, kept Kingman Academy down with 13 strikeouts while giving up just five hits and three walks in a complete game effort. The Scorpions collected seven hits.

“We left a lot of runners on base,” Eagle said. “It was just one of those games were it didn’t go our way.”

Ross was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle, and Farmer collected two hits as well.

The team does not play again until 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, March 21 when it opens Central Region play at home against Paradise Honors High School.