By ROBIN HRUSKA

The Pirates lost 5-4 in eight innings last week, despite out hitting Bellevue 9 to 8.

Michael Bernheisal put himself in scoring position with three base hits for the Pirates. He led the team off when he homered in the first inning, and then he doubled in the second and fourth innings. The Pirates scored two runs in the first inning, and then followed it up with two more in the sixth.

Ezra Lacina looked sharp on the bump. Bellevue managed just one hit off of Lacina, who allowed no earned runs, walked one and struck out four during his two innings of work. Then Bellevue’s offense woke up and tied it up in the bottom of the third. Bellevue pulled ahead in the fifth with two additional runs, but the Pirates came right back at them, tying it up again in the sixth. The battle continued on until Bellevue scored the winning run in the bottom of the eighth.

Micheal Bernheisal led the Pirates with three hits, Ezra Lacina and Simon Perrin had two and Ryan Bernheisal and Sam Schoenberg each had 1.

On Friday, the Pirates then went on to play Cedar Park Christian at Marymoor Park. Cedar Park crushed the Pirates with an end score of 7-0. Ryan Bernheisal and Sam Schoenberg were the only two Pirates to muster hits against the dominating pitching of Cedar Park. Cedar Park never surrendered the lead after the second inning, scoring fiveruns on a two-run double and a three-run triple.

Coach Steve Hall noted that the Pirates seemed a little rusty last week after having a week off with two rainouts.

“We played a great game against Bellevue Christian. The boys fought hard, but unfortunately we weren’t able to come through with the win,” he said.

He added that  Cedar Park is a team that’s predicted to be one of the top teams in the state, as they were last year, and they have all of their players back.

“As they did to us last year at their field, they beat us up pretty good. We were able to bounce back and beat them at home last year, and we are going to need to be able to do that again this year,” he said. “We need to shore up our pitching and start clutch hitting a lot better. It’s a great team with a good future ahead, and we just need to turn it around.”

— Robin  Hruska is the parent of a Pirate baseball player.