The Cedar Park Christian baseball team continued its impressive run to start the 2017 season, improving to 9-0 with a 7-3 win over the South Whidbey Falcons on Friday afternoon at Marymoor Park in Redmond.

Though not without their own moments of pressure, the Eagles never trailed in Friday’s contest, as they picked up their sixth Cascade league win of the year.

Cedar Park Christian coach Matt Stevens credited his players for their undefeated start and said experience has played a critical role in the Eagles’ success so far this season.

“We’re starting five seniors and a lot of guys who have had some success over the last few years,” Stevens said. “They came right out of the gate the first game. They’ve got goals and they’ve got aspirations this year of doing some big things. A lot of it is just giving credit to the players. They’ve come out ready to go from the first day.”

Starting pitcher Brandon McClean was effective from the mound through four innings for the Eagles, allowing two hits and no earned runs against the Falcons (3-5, 2-4 in Cascade).

Offensively, the Cedar Park Christian batters provided McClean the run support early, as the Eagles claimed a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Luke Lampe and Zach Cokos swung for back-to-back RBI doubles in the opening inning, while teammate Josiah Sargeant added an RBI single.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Eagles tacked three more runs to their advantage. Turner Glenn kicked off the rally, swinging for a triple to bring home teammate George Reidy, as the Eagles went on to claim a 6-0 lead.

“I think the mentality’s different this year,” Glenn said of his team’s strong start. “Last year, we played well, but obviously the record wasn’t as good. We’ve kind of just come out and had a lot more leadership. We have a lot of seniors this year.”

The Falcons fought back with a rally of their own the following inning. South Whidbey’s Mitchell Grady brought home Max Friedman with an RBI single. After loading the bases, South Whidbey’s Jon Bartel and Will Simms also drove in runs to make it a 6-3 contest.

But it was as close as South Whidbey would get. The Eagles only allowed one man to reach base for the Falcons the rest of the way and added a run in the bottom of the sixth inning to cushion their advantage.

Cokos finished 4-for-4 from the plate while batting in three runs. Lampe went 3-for-4 with an RBI.

Cedar Park Christian and South Whidbey will square off again for their third and final conference matchup of the season at 4 p.m. on Monday at South Whidbey High School.