Box Score LAKE WALES, Fla.- The Warner baseball team exploded for 11 runs and held the visiting Bluefield Rams to only one run on two hits to win their home opener of 2016. Jordan Pike got the start for the Royals going 5 innings and striking out three batters, while only giving up two hits and one run. Dalton Kelley came in relief to throw two perfect innings and striking out three Rams to guide the Royals to victory.

Not to be outdone by the pitching, the Royals offense came alive as well. The Royals opened the game in the bottom of the first to score 6 runs starting with a RBI double off the bat of Broderick Rodocker and ending with a RBI single to the right side by Jeff Stabe. The Royals would finish the innig with 8 hits and 6 runs to go up 6-0 after one inning of play. The Royals would add another un in the second with a Tomas Rivera RBI single following a lead-off triple by Jose Fortuna. The Royals tacked on two more runs in the fourth when Fortuna tripled for a second time and Rivera once again singled him him. Rivera would then steal second base and come around to score on a RBI single by Tyler Dauphinee. 

Bluefield would get their lone run in the fifth when Nolan Soto came in to score on a bases loaded walk by Jordan Ackerman. Pike would get the next batter to fly out to end his day. Bluefield would hold the Royals bats silent in the fifth and sixth innings but the offense would strike again for the final time in the seventh. Jesse Alker led off the inning with a single and would eventually make his way to third via two wild pitches. Randy Rodriguez would score Alker on a RBI ground out to make the score 10-1 in favor of Warner. The very next batter, Gerson Sotolongo, took a fastball over the left field wall for his first homerun of the season and give the Royals an 11-1 victory in 7 innings over Bluefield.

In the end, all 9 batters in the Royals line-up had a hit. Rodriguez, Sotolongo, Dauphinee, and Alker all had two hits while Fortuna and Rivera finished with three hits apiece. The Royals are back in action with a double header Saturday, February 6 at 11 a.m. against NCAA II Colorado Christian.