ARLINGTON — The Arlington Eagles faced off against Lynnwood on March 22 and kicked off the game with a five-run first inning on their way to an 8-4 victory.

“We had some kids with really big nights,” said Arlington head coach Scott Striegel. “We had five runs in the first inning on four base hits, three of which were doubles. That provided us with some motivation and really got us feeling good about ourselves and swinging the bats from then on.”

Senior Colton Hordyk was 2-for-3 at the plate with a double, a home run, a stolen base and three runs scored.

“Ryan Walker was also 2-for-3 with a run scored and a stolen base, and DJ Smith was 3-for-4 with two doubles, two RBIs and a stolen base,” said Striegel. “And Mario Mirante had a huge three-RBI, two-out double in the first inning that provided a huge lift for us and really got us rolling.”

Striegel, who is in his first year as head coach after five years as the junior varsity coach, said his team hadn’t been swinging the bats very well early in the season, but has seen improvements in recent outings.

“Against Lynnwood, we had our best game at the plate all year,” said Striegel. “Unfortunately, with the weather at the beginning of the season we spent a lot of time in the gym and didn’t see a lot of live pitching.”

In addition to the hitters having a good game, Arlington had some strong performances on the pitcher’s mound.

“Ryan Walker went four innings, struck out seven and didn’t give up any hits,” said Striegel. “He had a great outing. He was pretty dominant. He did get himself into a little bit of trouble in the fourth inning when he loaded the bases on a couple of walks and a hit batter, but then he just really beared down and took control and didn’t give up any more after that first run. He was really impressive for his first 4A varsity start as a pitcher.”

Reece Lamie pitched two innings and in the seventh DJ Smith went in and had a 1-2-3 inning, throwing only seven pitches.

While Arlington had a good game at the plate and on the mound, its defense had some issues.

“We had played really good defense up to this point but we had four errors against Lynnwood,” said Striegel. “We had only made four errors all year and we had four errors in this game, which shows how well our pitchers did in working past them.”

Despite the errors, the coach said the defense did a good job in not allowing multiple errors in the same inning and didn’t let the errors compound themselves and get worse.

“Staying positive and getting the next guy out was huge for us,” said Striegel. “We didn’t let the game get out of control. We stayed tough and we able to come out with the win.”