The Cedar Rapids Washington baseball team got off to a promising start this season, but the Warriors are struggling now without A.J. Puk and Zac Gillis on the team.

Puk is leaving Saturday for the University of Florida, where he'll join the baseball program and attend summer school.

Gillis leaves next week for Iowa Western Community College, where he'll join the football team and take a class this summer.

Both of them stopped playing for Washington last week and the results have not been good without those two big bats in the lineup. The Warriors have an 0-and-4 record without them and have been outscored, 32-4.

Davenport North defeated Washington, 7-2, Wednesday night in a non-conference game at the Washington diamond.

Puk and Gillis are gone, they're not coming back and the Warriors don't have anyone to replace them. On top of that, several other players are nursing aches and pains.

"That's high school baseball," said Coach Tony Lombardi. "I've got what I've got."

Washington collected only three hits Wednesday. Johnny Dobbs, recalled after a brief stint on the sophomore team, had two singles. Noah Dostal hit a long double, but that was the extent of the offensive production.

"We're working, we're practicing, we're trying to get them cuts," said Lombardi. "We're doing what we can to improve them. These are the only kids we've got."

The score was tied, 2-2, after four innings, but the game slipped away from there. Davenport North (10-8) took a 3-2 lead in the fifth inning. The visitors added three runs in the sixth for a 6-2 advantage, then tacked on an insurance run in the seventh.

Washington reached the finals of the Metro Tournament in May, but the Warriors have slipped to a 9-10 record with the four straight setbacks.

Davenport North played in the Class 4A state tournament last year despite finishing the season with an 18-22 record.

Washington has a stiff assignment Friday night when it visits Cedar Rapids Prairie for a doubleheader at 5 p.m.

DAVENPORT NORTH (7): Goettsch, rf, 4 2 2 0, Samuelson, ss, 2 0 1 1, Gomez, 2b, 1 1 1 1, TeBrake, 2b/ss, 4 1 1 1, Roehm, 3b, 3 1 0 0, Ringsdorf, 1b, 4 0 1 2, Heim, lf, 3 0 1 1, DeFauw, p, 4 0 2 1, Keimig, cr, 0 0 0 0, Grosskopf, p, 0 0 0 0, Wolf, dh, 2 0 0 0, Johnson, cf, 0 0 0 0, Fries, c, 2 0 1 0, Grosskopf, cr, 0 1 0 0, Happel, cr, 0 1 0 0. Totals 29 7 10 7.

WASHINGTON (2): Matsuda, lf, 2 0 0 0, Nichols, 2b, 2 0 0 0, Rogers, pr, 0 1 0 0, Akers, ph, 1 0 0 0, Bentley, p, 0 0 0 0, Dostal, p/2b, 3 1 1 0, Christensen, p, 0 0 0 0, Burdt, 1b, 3 0 0 1, Dobbs, 3b, 3 0 2 1, Lombardi, ss, 2 0 0 0, Akers, rf, 3 0 0 0, Loeffelholz, c, 2 0 0 0, Troendle, cf, 2 0 0 0. Totals 23 2 3 2.

Davenport North   100 113 1 - 7 10 1
Washington           000 200 0 - 2 3 3

DeFauw, Grosskopf (7) and Fries. Dostal, Christensen (5), Bentley (7) and Loeffelholz. W - DeFauw. L - Dostal. 2B - Ringsdorf, Dostal. SB - Goettsch 2, Samuelson, Wolf.