The Mathews High School varsity baseball team has gotten off to a slow start, dropping its first two regular season games to Essex and Northumberland by scores of 3-2 and 4-0, respectively.

The Blue Devils hosted the Essex Trojans on Friday night for their first regular season affair. Junior Willie Fernald, in his first varsity appearance as a Blue Devil, served as the Devils’ starting pitcher on the night. The Trojans jumped on him early, and with a couple of steals, they were able to grab a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning.

After a scoreless bottom half of the inning, Logan Byrns took over the mound for the Devils and allowed Essex’s third run in the third inning. The Devils chipped away at the lead in the fifth, as Zach Jarosz started the inning with a single and Austin Kemp got on base on an error. With that error, Jarosz made his way across the plate, and after Kemp ended up at third, scoring off a wild pitch in the following at-bat. These two runs were the on...