On March 24, the Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech) baseball team kicked off its schedule’s gauntlet week with Royal High School (Royal) as their only home matchup. As a result of a third inning that created the large score gap, the Dragons suffered a 1-8 loss.
“We knew what we were getting into,” Drayden Belitski ‘26 said.
Royal showed glimpses of their strengths early against Foothill Tech’s starting pitcher Connor Nelles ‘26 in the first inning, as they recorded a single and a double. Nelles was able to get out of the inning with a strikeout and a flyout.
“The team persevered through a rough inning. This is a tough opponent we played today with the record that they have … Going through the first two innings at zero-zero, they felt that they could persevere and push through,” Foothill Tech head coach Mike Haas said.
The game eventually got out of hand once Royal was able to break through the Foothill Tech pitching and defensive side. Royal tallied their first six runs on the scoreboard in the third inning, assisted by a couple of defensive errors. The Dragons finally put an end to the bleeding as Cooper Casey ‘27 made two plays at shortstop to get out of the inning.
“It comes with the basics. Dropped balls and some communication didn’t happen very well. So we’ll go back to the drawing board,” said Haas.
The Dragons were finally able to get on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth inning. Belitski tagged up into a run thanks to a sacrifice fly hit by Jason Frutos ‘28; however, their efforts weren’t enough to get within striking distance of Royal, as it only brought the score to 1-7.
Royal recorded a strikeout to close out the game.
With the loss, Foothill Tech falls to a record of six wins and five losses. With two away games lined up next against the talents of Rio Mesa High School on March 26 and Moorpark High School on March 28, Foothill Tech will need to dig deep to find prevalent results.
“This week is a gauntlet; we play three really tough teams. And it’s all set for a purpose. As we get set to go into CIF, we’re going to see some tough competition, and this is going to set them up for the trials and tribulations of things that are going to come up when it’s time for CIF,” Haas said.
