The King’s baseball team capped a six-game winning streak with a landmark 6-4 win over perennial Cascade Conference power Archbishop Murphy on April 16, handing the Wildcats their first conference loss of the season.
It was the Knights’ first win over Archbishop Murphy since King’s revived its baseball program in 2015 after several decades without a team. Archbishop Murphy had outscored the Knights by a combined 80-10 margin in the teams’ previous six meetings over the past three seasons.
King’s sophomore AJ Knorr entered in relief and pitched 4 1/3 innings of one-run ball, striking out six batters to help upset the first-place Wildcats.
“We kind of shocked the world,” Knights coach Jake Beattiger said.
King’s six-game winning streak was snapped last Wednesday with a 19-1 loss to Archbishop Murphy, followed by a 3-0 loss to second-place Cedar Park Christian on Friday.
The youth-laden Knights struggled through a 1-18 season last year, when they had just 14 players and no upperclassmen on their roster.
King’s (7-10 overall, 6-7 Cascade Conference) again doesn’t have any seniors this season, but has leaned on players such as Knorr, junior Isaac Hines and sophomore Tyler Durbin for success.
As of Monday afternoon, the Knights were fourth in the Cascade Conference standings and had secured a spot in the Class 1A Bi-District tournament.
“We’re gaining some momentum,” Beattiger said. “King’s hasn’t been known for baseball. And so trying to establish who the Knights baseball program is and what we are has been difficult, because we’re trying to get a lot of kids on the same page.
“But I think the rewards are coming. … I think it is starting to pay off a little bit.”
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