The Sea Kings Junior Varsity visited Huntington Beach to face the Oilers in game one of their three-game series and came away with a 6-1 defeat on Tuesday.
The Oilers jumped the Sea Kings for five runs in the bottom of the first inning thanks to a grand slam home run and an RBI double. After the first inning, the teams settled in to an evenly-played, low-scoring affair.
In the top of the fifth inning, it looked like the Sea Kings were going to mount a comeback when they started the inning with three consecutive singles by Cash Burns (‘27), Sam Healy (‘27) and Brady Zenz (‘26). The Oilers’ skipper had seen enough and made a call to the bullpen for a relief pitcher. This turned out to be the right move, as the Oilers’ reliever proceeded to strike out the next three Sea Kings batters to thwart the rally with no runs crossing the plate.
The Sea Kings did manage to put up a run in the sixth inning when Prescott Nyman (‘27) singled, stole second base and then scored when a dropped third strike was thrown past Huntington Beach’s first baseman.
The Oilers answered back with a run of their own in the bottom of the sixth inning to make the final score 6-1.
The Sea Kings actually out-hit the Oilers in the game six to four, but the seventeen strikeouts by Sea Kings’ batters was too much to overcome.
Sea Kings starter, Brooks Johnson settled in after the first inning and pitched a solid five innings, allowing only three hits and striking out seven Oilers.
Burns reached base twice for the Sea Kings, going one for two and being hit by a pitch.
Zenz’ fifth inning single extended his on-base streak to four games, while Nyman’s sixth inning single stretched his hitting streak to four games.
Huntington Beach travels to face the Sea Kings Junior Varsity for game two of the series on Wednesday, April 2.