It began with the very first batter. That hard, biting slider R.A. Long right-hander Tanner Ruffe has worked on since grade school, darting, dropping and buckling the knees.

“Seeing guys backing out of the box on it, not even wanting any of it at all ... it means it’s effective,” Ruffe said.

It was also the driving force in the Lumberjacks’ 7-2 victory over Ridgefield Tuesday afternoon in the Lumberyard, an out pitch that took down one Spud after another in Greater St. Helens 2A League play.

“He works backwards well,” RAL coach Mark Hulings said. “His fastball sets up his second and third pitch and he has those for command. It’s tough for hitters. ... He gets them on the front foot then he can throw a fastball and he works his pitches well.”

It was all working Tuesday. Ruffe went all seven innings, striking out six while inducing 10 groundouts with a mix of fastballs and junk that kept the Spudders off balance.

If not for a few hiccups in the final frame — a seeing-eye single to start things off, a single plus an error in right field and a wild pitch — he would have finished with a shutout. As it was, he had to settle for his first complete-game win of the season.

“He was dominant on the bump today,” Hulings said. “He did a fantastic job, established his fastball, had a really good two pitch.”

After giving up a pair of hits in the first inning, Ruffe retired 15 of the next 19 batters he faced.

Two reached on walks in the second inning — the only two he gave up all day — another on an error and the other a single. Nary a Spud reached third until the seventh, and by that time RAL was ahead 7-0 thanks to a three-run first inning and four-run fifth.

“My curveball is kind of my go-to pitch whenever the fastball is working and you’ve got to change it up a little bit,” Ruffe said.

“I started throwing a slider when I was 12 because you’re not supposed to start throwing curveballs until you get older, so my dad had me throwing a slider and I just kept working with that. I just developed it over the years.”

Spencer Thorsen got things going for RAL (3-1 in league, 7-3 overall) in the first inning with an RBI double to right-center field that was a few feet shy of clearing the fence. Morgan Baker tomahawked a curveball into left field for a single two batters later to score Thorsen, and Ruffe fisted a flare to right to bring in Baker for a 3-0 lead.

The Jacks then took advantage of three Spudder errors in the fifth, scoring four runs with one hit and one walk. Ryan Peerboom lined an RBI single into left field and a sacrifice fly from Ruffe was set up by heads-up base running by Austin Beavers on Baker’s preceding sac bunt that took Beavers from first to third base.

“I was very pleased overall with all of the facets of our game today,” Hulings said. “Hitting, defense was key for us, base running was good, efficient and aggressive today.

“It’s a huge morale booster for our team, I think we need that. We expect to be where are at right now. Our kids are working extremely hard to put ourselves in position at the end to make a good run.”

It would have been almost perfect if not for that seventh inning.

Ridgefield eventually loaded up the bases with a pair of two-out singles, briefly putting into doubt an outcome that seemed assured since the opening frame. Ruffe gathered himself, twisted in a couple of strikes and then brought the heat high and tight. Strike three.