The Corsairs will begin Golden Valley Conference play in baseball at Shasta on Friday after taking one of three games in a competitive series against Napa Valley last week.

The College of the Redwoods men won the opener against the Storm by a score of 5-4, before dropping back-to-back games 3-1 and 12-11

“We were competitive all weekend really,” CR head coach Andrew Aiello said. “We were always in games and battled throughout, but didn’t find a way to get the job done and win the series.”

Shadd Jones got the win on the mound in game one, while Parker Rodgers led the way at the plate and finished 2-for-4 with an RBI.

Raul Soto-Romero and Blake Browning each also had a base hit in the victory.

In game two, Christian Katnik took the loss on the mound, with Browning hitting a home run for the offensive highlight of the game.

Rodgers had the hot bat again in a high-scoring game three and finished 3-for-3.

The Eureka High graduate leads the conference in hitting with a .485 average.

Browning also continued to have an impact in the season finale and finished 2-for-5, while St. Bernard’s graduate Jeran Ford was 3-for-4 with an RBI and Grant Lasserre was 3-for-4 with three RBIs.

Poor defense also didn’t help matters, while the pitchers had too many walks, according to the coach.

“We have to do a better job of two-strike hitting, as well as two-out hitting with guys on,” the second-year head coach said.

Despite the two losses, there were several bright spots.

“It’s good to see guys fight throughout the series, but we have to clean things up going into conference where everyone is good,” Aiello said. “Again we are simply focused on what we can do and how we can get better throughout the week so we have a better chance at success on the weekends.

“We are starting to come together and get better, but we simply have to clean up the little things in order for the bigger picture things, like winning, to happen.”

The Corsairs open this week’s series at Shasta on Friday at 2 p.m. and will play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 11 a.m.