The Three Rivers Sandblasters lost their American Legion league opener to the hot-hitting Withnell Dodgers on Monday in Florence.

The Dodgers scored six runs in three different innings on the way to a 20-10 victory over the host Sandblasters.

“That was an ugly one,” said Three Rivers coach Alex Morales. “They are a good hitting team and we made six errors — many that led directly to runs — and gave up eight free passes.

“Combine that with 19 hits and we might consider ourselves lucky to even be in the game late in the eighth inning.”

The Dodgers improved to 2-0 in Zone 3 play, while the Sandblasters fell to 0-1 in league and 4-4 overall.

“The nice thing about baseball, maybe, is that we get to go out there tomorrow and give it another shot,” Morales said.

Three Rivers continues a stretch of eight league games in 10 days today when the Sandblasters visit the Springfield Titans. They are home Wednesday and Thursday for games against Richey’s Market and the Albany Rockets.

Three Rivers pulled up Bryce Weidman from sister team North Coos to pitch the league opener, and Weidman was effective for the first four innings, striking out five batters and giving up just four hits in his Class AAA debut. Unfortunately for Weidman, the Dodgers scored six times in the fourth inning, helped by Three Rivers errors. Of the seven runs Weidman allowed, only two were earned.

After the Sandblasters pulled within 7-6 with six runs of their own in the sixth inning, the Dodgers scored six runs in the seventh. Three Rivers rallied again with four runs in the eighth, but the Dodgers collected six more runs in the ninth.

Despite the high score, Morales said pitching was a highlight for his team.

“Chase Meister made his first appearance of the summer after an ankle injury at Feather River Community College and looked good,” he said. “We also got to see Bryce Weidman pitch for us at the AAA level and he also looked good. Unfortunately, we didn’t play much defense.”

Drew Rainwater led the Three Rivers offense, going 3-for-5 with a three-run triple and a solo home run, and also scored twice. Tyler Mais had a two-run home run, walked twice and was hit by a pitch, reaching base five times in his seven plate appearances. Weidman had two hits, including a double, and Cole Skriver also had a double.

Doug Bloom had three hits, including a home run and double, scored three runs and had three RBIs for the Dodgers. Blake Miller also had three hits, three runs and three RBIs and Jonathan Sigado had a home run and three RBIs and made a big pitching stop for the Dodgers. In the eighth inning, after Three Rivers had cut the lead to 14-10, he struck out Rainwater with the bases loaded.

Withnell 20, Three Rivers 19

Withnell    001    600    616    —    20    19    2

Three Rivers    000    006    040    —    10    10    6

Hood-Taylor, Stott (6), Sigado (8), Hoffman (9) and Varny; Bryce Weidman, Chase Meister (5), Tyler Mais (7), Rye Espinosa (8), Willie Grader (9) and Ethan Ottemiller. 2B—Wit: Bloom, Cox; TR: Weidman, Cole Skriver. 3B—WD: Miller, TR: Drew Rainwater. HR—Wit: Bloom, Sigado; TR: Rainwater, Mais.