Head coach Brian Kelly said he knew the season opener against Chaska would mean the team would be facing elite pitching. Despite the preparation, Park failed to score any runs throughout the game.

“We faced them twice last year, we knew that they were going to have a really good pitcher,” Kelly said. “We just couldn’t score, we had a couple opportunities to push a couple runs across  we weren’t able to so that was tough.”

Despite losing 3-0 April 11, Park was able to contain Chaska’s offense to three runs. After giving up two runs in the first inning, senior captain and pitcher Kristofer Hokenson said he was able to focus and only gave up one more run the rest of his outing.

“I was kind of pissed about (allowing two runs). So I was in my zone,” Hokenson said.

Kelly said defensively he was thrilled with the team’s performance and now the team has to work on getting the offense to click.

“The pitching(and) the defense was great. There’s a couple of areas to work on, but offensively we (have) got to catch up,” Kelly said. “If we hold teams to two or three runs every game, I’m gonna be super happy.”

According to senior captain Stanley Regguinti, the outfield, which made a number of defensive stops throughout the game, is one of the team’s major strengths.

“We have the best outfield in the state,” Regguinti said. “We proved that today with our diving catches. We’re making every play in the outfield that we can.”

Hokenson said the team will have to be able to forget this loss and prepare for the next game.

“Next practice, we got to stay focused and just let it go. As a team we’re pretty good at that,” Hokenson said. “We’re going to come back strong next game.”

The team will have the chance to pick up its first win during its home opener against Waconia at 6 p.m. April 13 at Dakota Park.