Twin Rivers' Colby Huggins scores on a wild pitch as Doniphan pitcher Daniel Newman covers home plate Thursday in Broseley. (Alex Abate/DAR) [Click to enlarge]

By ALEX ABATE ~ Sports Writer

BROSELEY -- Twin Rivers wanted to put its opponent in a hole early Thursday afternoon.

The Royals wasted little time as they scratched across three runs in the bottom of the first inning and added five more in the third as they moved past Doniphan, 10-1.

It was the Royals first win of the year after losing to Campbell on Tuesday to open the season.

"I saw a lot of improvement from Tuesday to today," Twin Rivers coach Denver Stuckey said. "I think it was just more they had a game under their belt and they were more themselves today instead of all the nervous energy."

Cole McBroom got the win for the Royals while Daniel Newman got the loss.

McBroom held the Dons down in the first inning before his offense gave him some breathing room in its half of the frame.

Kevin Kinney singled to left field and Taylor Lowe walked to bring up Garrett Stockton. After Kinney scored on a wild pitch to make it 1-0, Stockton doubled to bring in Lowe and give the Royals a 2-0 lead. Alan Shearer walked and later scored in the inning to make it 3-0.

"Their pitcher was throwing the ball well and had some good velocity," Stuckey said. "Kevin (Kinney) started off with a single and that kind of set the tone and Garrett (Stockton) racked a ball in the gap there. That is just what we need to have, come out of the gate swinging."

The Royals added to their lead in the third. Shearer walked with one out and a walk after a hit batter loaded the bases for Caleb Doyle. Doyle singled to score Shearer to make it 4-0 and Colby Huggins scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-0. After a Dons pitching change, Twin Rivers got a two-RBI double from nine hole hitter Chris Morse and a series of walks make it 8-0.

"We started out, the pitchers get behind in the count and it is going to be an easy day for them whenever we do that," Doniphan coach Jason Rose said. "We got to work on getting ahead in the count. Monday, we did a good job of it, today we didn't do it."

McBroom held the Dons down for four innings while his offense built the lead before John Stevenson came in and finished the game throwing three innings.

"(McBroom) did fantastic," Stuckey said. "He did a real good job throwing his curveball for a strike. He will be the first to tell you he doesn't have just devastating stuff but he is going to compete and he is a smart kid and he is going to give us a chance."

The Royals pushed across their last two runs in the fourth as Doniphan got its lone run in the fifth on an RBI by Mitch Granier. Stuckey attributes heads-up baserunning to some of the Royals' success.

"We work on aggressive baserunning every day," Stuckey said. "I have told them I would much rather see us get thrown out trying to take an extra base than just staying back and waiting for stuff. Sometimes we will get thrown out, sometimes we force the issue."

Despite the score late in the game, Rose is proud of how his team didn't give up and played the full seven innings.

"We had some guys that came in and threw strikes and gotten ahead in the count, some relievers that came in and that is what I have got to have," Rose said. "We are pitching by committee right now, working on getting our pitching lined out."

The Royals had a big lead in the later innings and got runners on but couldn't manage to do any more damage before the end of the game.

"That is something we addressed," Stuckey said. "We got to keep our intensity all the way through. Especially, the game of baseball, you can see six or seven put on the board quickly. I hope that is just something we learn from, I hope it doesn't become a trait of ours."