Washington trailed Riverside 5-0 entering the bottom of the sixth in Tuesday’s game. After digging themselves into an early hole thanks to fundamental mistakes, sophomore relief pitcher Chris Sulc gave the Pam Pack a chance by fanning two batters in a quick top of the sixth, but fell 5-4.

The boys were finally able to make something happen after stranding runners in scoring position in each of the first four frames. Logan Little struck out and Neill Jennings grounded out to start the inning. Knights pitcher Markel Freeman then issued walks to Nick Everette, Tripp Barfield and Cooper Anderson.

The walks prompted Riverside to switch out Freeman for another righty in Connor Harrison.

Just like that, Washington had the bases loaded with two outs and the tying run at the plate. Tyler Harrell stepped up and belted a base-clearing double to center field. It brought the Pam Pack within one, 5-4, late in the game.

Sulc came back out for the seventh and struck out two more Knights as Washington set down the visitors in order. The comeback was still on the table and the home side had its No. 3 batter in Frederick Holscher leading off.

Holscher flied out to left field, but Washington caught a break when Little sprinted to reach first on a dropped third strike. The boys’ aggression caught up with them moments later when Little was caught stealing second base. Jennings flied out to center field — and wasn’t too far from clearing the fence — to end the game.

“We’ve got to be a little more disciplined at the plate,” coach Kevin Leggett said. “I think we were a little out in front of everything — just trying to crush the ball, instead of doing the job we needed to do to get the guy over to the next bag.”

Errors plagued Washington early in the game. Austin Lee led off with a single up the middle for Riverside. Hunter Kinion reached on an overthrown routine play from third to first. The error allowed Lee to score and Kinion slid into scoring position. Ty Raynor plated Kinion with a single to the left side.

“It’s tough to get out of a hole, especially in the first inning, because that puts (Riverside) with confidence right from the start,” Leggett said. “It does show us we’ve got to work on some things. They get a little bit relaxed, thinking they can just show up sometimes. We’ve got to work every day on fundamental things. You can’t ever just push them to the back.”

The Knights plated two more in the top of the fifth to take a 5-0 lead. Lee led off with a double to the right-centerfield fence and Raynor followed with a single. Lee scored on a passed ball, which also put Raynor in position to score on a fielder’s choice later.

Matt Black got walked in the fifth. He found himself in striking distance on third base thanks to his base running and a pitch in the ground by Freeman, who had just relieved Raynor. Black finally broke through for Washington via Cody Godley’s sac-fly RBI to right field.

However, Washington left one too many runs on the table in the first half of the game to finish off the late comeback attempt.