The Soldotna baseball team opened up its season with a 15-3 loss in four innings to Chugiak at the Fourth Annual Buddy Dale Invitational at Wasilla High School.
The Stars grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but Chugiak led 7-1 after two innings. After SoHi cut it to 7-3 in the top of the third, the Mustangs answered back with eight runs in the bottom of the third.
Trenton Ohneumus had 1 2-3 innings of scoreless relief for the Stars, but Colby Sturman, Brett Hostetler and Wyatt Gagnon all had trouble keeping the Mustangs off the board in an inning or less of work. Three errors by the Stars did not help the situation.
SoHi had three hits in the game — from Evan Appelhans, Sage Cruz and Ohnemus. Appelhans and Ohnemus had RBIs, while Andrew Pieh scored twice and Cruz scored once.
The Stars continue play in the tournament today when they face Kodiak at 12:30 p.m.
