LAKE WALES, Fla. – In their first of three games against the visiting Bobcats from St. Thomas University, the Royals baseball team fell 9-6 to their Sun Conference opponent. The loss drops the Royals to 2-6 in conference play, and 5-11 overall on the season.

The Royals and Bobcats were tied 1-1 until the fifth inning when Dylan Gross singled to center field, giving his team the lead. Anthony Dovale followed up with an RBI of his own after putting the ball in play and allowing Broderick Rodocker to score. The Royals lead was short lived however. The Bobcats offense took off in the sixth inning, scoring seven runs and jumping out to an 8-3 lead.

The Royals cut the lead to 8-6 in the bottom of the sixth after plating three runs. George Kirkland hit a ball hard to short stop that allowed two runs to score. Gross then drove in his third run of the game in the sixth, hitting a sacrifice fly to center field to score Jose Quintana. The Bobcats scored their final run in the top of the ninth and held on defensively in the bottom half of the inning to earn the victory.

Dylan Heiring (1-3) got the start on the mound for the Royals and went five and two-thirds innings. Heiring allowed eight runs on six hits and struck out seven Bobcat batters. Broderick Rodocker led the Royals offense going 2-for-3 at the dish. Chase Coon went 1-for-2 with two walks, while Tomas Rivera went 2-for-5. Dylan Gross recorded three RBIs and went 1-for-3 on Friday afternoon.

The Royals and Bobcats will be back in action tomorrow morning, Feb. 28, at Royals Field for a conference double header. Game one of the double header is scheduled for an 11 a.m. first pitch. Game two will start approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of game one.