Alpha Jallow

Freshman Cannon Knight getting ready to throw a pitch.

The Eleanor Roosevelt Varsity Baseball team is currently standing at 7-4 as of April 29th. Standing at 4th in the region, they have the 7th most runs scored in the region. Their biggest wins have come against Suitland and High Point. In both of those games, they held their opponent to one point. The Raiders’ most recent game came to a 5-0 loss to Bowie. But if look at the season as a whole, the Raiders’ have had a great season. So as the Raiders play into May, let’s recap their season so far and game against Bowie.

Earlier in the week, I got a chance to talk to Freshman Cannon Knight about how he is feeling about the Raiders’ season, “The baseball season is going well so far. We are currently working with a 6-3 record with 7 scheduled games left. To keep the momentum going into May, we need to stay focused and operate as a unit. Coming off of a big win on Monday, against Wise, our team showed that we can hang with any team that steps on the field with us. Heading into the game against Wise, my mindset was to stay focused and calm. Furthermore, as the starting catcher, I am the captain of the defense meaning that I have the responsibility of communicating to my pitcher and keeping everyone else on the same page. Following our 14-4 win against Wise, if we stay focused and keep playing the same way we are now, there is no doubt in my mind that we can go deep into the playoffs and bring a championship back to Raider Nation.”

After that I sat down and got a chance to see Roosevelt go to battle against Bowie. Early in the game, you could tell that it was gonna be a fierce game. Bowie scored in the first inning and were off into a great start. The Raiders’ could not get going on the batting side of the game which ultimately cost them to lose. Even though Roose lost 5-0, the pitching side still performed well. Roose had more strikeouts than Bowie with a count of 13-9. Senior Andrew Bender struck out 11 batters over 5.1 innings and only gave up 3 earned runs off of two hits. During the last 3 games, Bender has been reliable as he hasn’t had less than 7 strikeouts. He also went 2-3 at batting and stole two bases. Despite Bowie throwing 24 pitches, Roose only had two hits, which both came from Bender. Throughout the whole season, Roose has had strong games in spite of this loss.

The Raider Boys started off their season on the road at DuVal and Wise, losing a 10-9 nail-biter against Wise and beating DuVal 9-4. They caught a break with a home game against Northwestern where they won 11-5 with 6 players recording a run. Despite that strong showing, they hit the road against Bowie. They outscored Bowie by 8 runs in the first 2 innings but could not stop the Bulldogs as they unfortunately lost 15-9. But then. The Raider Boys pulled through and had their biggest games with a 3 game winning streak at home against Suitland, High Point and Flowers. Scoring 10+ runs during that 3 game stretch and held all 3 teams to under 7 runs.

In the Suitland game, everyone on the roster had a great game. On the batting side, Senior Luis Arias scored two runs and stole two bases. Senior Xavier Jones scored 4 runs and stole five bases, while Freshman Jacob Maitland scored 4 runs and stole 3 bases. Aswell as, Junior Delton Fuller who two runs and stole a base. But the biggest performance came from Freshman John Burke, who allowed 0 earned runs or hits and struck out 13 over 5 innings pitched.

When Roosevelt went against High Point, it was Freshman Cannon Knight who had a amazing pitching day as he struck out 9 batters in 5 innings and only gave up one earned run off of three hits. Senior Luis Arias continued his hot streak from last game with 1 run and stole 4 bases. Senior Andrew Bender had a good game aswell, as he had 2 runs and stole 3 bases.

The Raiders’ are looking to bounce back as playoffs are nearing, with their last game on May 6th at home against DuVal.