Kingsford junior pitcher Andres Finley comes off the mound to field and throw out Negaunee sophomore Owen Cardinal during the sixth inning at Lodal Park Monday afternoon. (Ron Deuter photo)

KINGSFORD — Kingsford’s bats were quiet and its defense a little shaky in a 2-1 season-opening varsity baseball loss to Negaunee Monday afternoon at Lodal Park.

“You can’t have the little errors we had,” Flivvers head coach Joe Kriegl said. “You can’t have passed balls, especially when we’re not manufacturing runs. Obviously, if you play error free it might be a different game.”

Negaunee scored both its runs via passed balls, including the go-ahead tally in the top of the sixth inning.

Sophomore Morgan Robar, who had two of the Miners’ three hits, led off the sixth of a 1-1 game with a single and was able to later score from third on a pitched ball past the catcher.

Kingsford, limited to just four hits in the game, had the tying run on third with two outs in their final at-bat.

Sophomore infielder Jacob Deuter worked a full count and made solid contact up the middle but right at Negaunee’s pitcher, who stabbed it on a bounce and flipped to first to end the game.

“Hats off to them, they threw a good game,” Kriegl said. “We didn’t hit the ball. Well, we hit but not in the right spots. Yeah, you can’t have the little errors, not against good baseball teams and Negaunee has a good baseball team. We had our opportunities.”

The Miners grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second when consecutive errors on the infield allowed two on with nobody out before a pitch got past the catcher to allow a run to score from third.

The damage could have been much worse if not for Kingsford junior starter Gavin Trevillian getting a comebacker for the first out before fanning the next two to end the threat.

Trevillian was steady on the mound, throwing four innings and allowing two hits and two walks while fanning six. He also had two of Kingsford’s four hits in the game, scoring the team’s only run in the fourth after a two-out double to center ignited a little rally. Junior Joey Weber and Deuter added singles as Kingsford knotted the game 1-1.

Junior Andres Finley threw the final two innings for Kingsford, yielding a hit and a walk with one strikeout.

“I thought our pitching was good,” Kriegl said. “Our defense is usually good enough, but we had those unearned runs and it kills you. We just have to perform or it’s going to be a long season.

“But these are good kids. They’ll bounce back.”

Negaunee earned a 9-0 victory in game two of the doubleheader. The Flivvers (0-2, 0-1) carry a large roster of 20-plus kids this season and with no active junior varsity program, Kingsford will play mostly all six-inning doubleheaders where the upperclassmen play first in league play followed by a non-conference contest to give some of the younger players opportunities.

The Flivvers will be a busy bunch this month, scheduled to play roughly 30 games over the next four weeks. Kingsford heads to Marinette (Wis.) this afternoon for a doubleheader before hosting Houghton for two on Friday and visiting Antigo (Wis.) for a pair on Saturday.

BADGERS 20, RANGERS 9

WAUSAUKEE, Wis. — After trailing through five innings, the Niagara varsity baseball team came to life in the top of the sixth and picked up a 20-9 victory over Wausaukee in a Marinette & Oconto Conference clash on Monday in Wausaukee, Wis.

“Give the kids credit for not giving up,” Badgers head coach Brad Richtig said. “(Christian) Hedmark with a really nice outing on the mound. We just have to be better defensively for him. Way too many errors. If we don’t correct that. It will come to bite us here pretty soon.”

The Badgers are now 5-0 on the year and 4-0 in conference action.

Hedmark got the start for Niagara. He pitched four innings, striking out five and allowing two earned runs. Cody Bath picked up the win. Aiden Sweig and Mason Richtig also took the mound in the game. Sweig recorded one strikeout while Mason Richtig had two.

The Rangers held a 6-0 lead after the bottom of the fifth inning. However, the Badgers recorded 17 runs in the sixth and tacked on three more in the seventh to stay undefeated.

Offensively, Niagara received contributions from Bath (3 for 4, 4 RBIs, 2 walks, 2 steals), T.J. Beard (0 for 3, 1 walk) Reid Schroeder (1 for 1, 1 RBI, 1 walk), Hedmark (4 for 6, 5 RBIs), Mason Richtig (3 for 4, 4 RBIs, 2 walks), Easton Holmes (1 for 3, 1 walk), Sweig (0 for 4, 1 walk), Brayden Bartels (1 for 5, 1 RBI), Gavin Neuens (0 for 2, 2 walks, 2 steals) and J.J. Wallace (1 walk).

As a team, Niagara drew 12 walks while only allowing the Rangers five free passes.

The Badgers faced Florence on Tuesday. They welcome Crivitz to town on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.

Daily News sports editor Sean Chase contributed to this report.