The Ballard High School baseball team opened KingCo play with a 2-0 loss to Lake Washington March 23. But with Lake Washington being the defending conference champ and the Beavers being shorthanded, the loss hurts a little less.

"I'm not feeling all that bad about anything," coach John Lamm said.

Ballard was without senior designated hitter Kyler Korsmo and started three freshmen against the defending KingCo champs.

Despite that, the Beavers hit the ball fairly well and gave themselves opportunities to score but couldn't find any holes, Lamm said.

"Sometimes the breaks just go a certain way," he said.

Ballard also wasn't overpowered by Lake Washington's offense, he said.

Lake Washington broke a 0-0 tie in the top of the fifth inning when senior starting pitcher Charlie Beaudoin threw a bases-loaded walk.

Junior Oliver Guarino went 1-3 with a double for the Beavers, but the team finished with two hits and no runs.

Lake Washington's Trevor Dunlap went a full seven innings, throwing three strikeouts and giving up two hits.

Ballard pitchers Beaudoin and junior Danny Thomson combined for six strikeouts and four hits.

The Beavers are 0-1 in KingCo and 0-3 overall.

The team takes on Inglemoor at 3:45 p.m. on March 25 at Whitman Middle School.