PHOENIX – Tuesday did not bring favorable baseball weather.

It was a windy day, but that did not seem to bother the Washington players.

The team was loose in pregame, while having fun joking around and making a friendly competition out of ground ball drills.

Come game time, though, the Rams put themselves in a hole early and wound up losing their regular-season opener against Deer Valley on Tuesday, 8-2.

Last season, Washington and Deer Valley met to open the regular season and played a close game that went to extra innings. The Skyhawks edged the Rams 5-4 in eight innings.

“This is one we had circled on our schedule,” head coach Beau Polvorosa said.

The game, however, did not go back-and-forth the same way last year's did, as Deer Valley struck for three runs in the first inning. It only would have been two, but a throwing error from third baseman Josh Rangel allowed another run to score.

That became a trend for Washington the rest of the way as it had five errors as a team.

“We just have to be able to play catch,” Polvorosa said. “There is going to be a strong emphasis in practice to fix that moving forward.”

Errors are far from a pitcher’s best friend, and Tuesday’s game was an example of that. Although he battled and wasn’t his sharpest either, starter Pedro Leon struggled at times working around the errors committed behind him.

“Our defense was a little off today,” Leon admitted. “But we can work on that, it’s one of those little things.”

If Deer Valley wasn’t putting the ball in play, the team found other ways to get on base.

Washington pitchers issued four walks on the afternoon and hit three Deer Valley batters.

“We beat ourselves today,” pitching coach Joel Bender said. “We have to find a way to control our pitches a little more than what we have.”

If Washington had any idea of outhitting Deer Valley, Skyhawks starting pitcher Austin Vest was seemingly not going to let that idea come to fruition.

The right-handed sophomore dominated from the start and pitched into the sixth inning. He recorded six strikeouts, while only allowing two runs on two hits and issuing two walks. Both runs came in his final inning of work.

“He established the fastball early and we did not do a very good job of adjusting to his speed,” Polvorosa said. “They didn’t waste any pitches and once he got comfortable, he did his damage being around the zone and he was really effective.”

Vest carried a no-hitter into the third, but that was broken up by outfielder Steven Sanchez when he sent the first pitch he saw down the left-field line past the diving glove of the Deer Valley third baseman.

“I was hearing from my teammates that the first ball is a strike,” Sanchez said. “Coach always tells us to not get beat by a fastball and that was my mentality. I went up there with a plan.”

After Sanchez was left on third base, Washington did not record another hit until the sixth inning when the team struck for its first run.

Josh Rangel, like Sanchez, took a first-pitch offering down the left-field line and into the corner, scoring shortstop Isaac Hernandez, who had reached base via hit by pitch.

“I actually switched to a lighter bat,” Rangel said. “I noticed I was always late, so I made the adjustment to switch the bat to get quicker hands. I got the fastball inside that I was guessing on and pulled it.”

In the end, the Rams waited too long to attempt to come back and win, but Polvorosa plans on communicating a message to his team moving forward.

“The game is never over, especially in high school baseball until that 21st out is made,” Polvorosa said. “Competing at any point in time and continuing to battle is really what matters, especially in a game of momentum. You just never know.”

Washington (0-1) will look to rebound on the road against the Poston Butte Broncos on Friday.