New coach brings new philosophy to ML

Moses Lake downs Battle Ground, falls to Pasco in jamboree

MOSES LAKE — It was drizzly weather for the Moses Lake baseball team, but Ed McNamara got a clear idea of how the season might go for the Chiefs in the Big Nine.

With six preseason innings to use before league starts on Friday against Kennewick, Moses Lake squared off for two, three inning games against Battle Ground and Pasco High Schools at Larson Playfield on Saturday.

The Chiefs came from behind to defeat Battle Ground 2-1, then got beat 3-0 to Pasco. It wasn't about wins and losses, Moses Lake head coach Ed McNamara said after the jamboree, it was more about seeing his team against live action for the first time this season.

"I guess I don't want to be negative or overly positive," McNamara said, who replaces Ryan Kies after assisting the former coach last year. "We have the ability and the people to get us to the playoffs, but we don't have great Big Nine talent like Richland or Southridge.

"That is why I am trying to get the team concept across."

Moses Lake kept even with the Tigers until the top of the third when Battle Ground broke the tie to take a 1-0 lead. In the bottom half of the inning, Zane Bator hit an RBI double to the center field wall to tie the game and then with bases loaded, Derek Dietzen walked to bring home the winning run.

But what impressed McNamara in the first game was the pitching by Chad Hunter, Brandon Price and Zane Bator, who combined for four hits and one earned run.

"Those two are who I anticipate on being our two starters," McNamara said about Hunter and Price, both lefthanded pitchers. "Bator has a good curveball and a good bat and he is going to be in the lineup somewhere."

Against Pasco, Derek Dietzen struggled in his first-inning outing, allowing two runs on one hit before striking out the seventh batter of the inning and getting the final out on a grounder to himself.

The senior pitcher from the Moses Lake Christian Academy is coming off of Tommy John surgery and McNamara said he hopes to slowly work Dietzen into the starting rotation midway through the season.

"Dietzen has some good fire and I would like to see him on the mound," McNamara said.

As a team, McNamara said Moses Lake has a better chance as a 16-team unit to get to the playoffs, rather than resting on the shoulders of a few guys. Helping make that team more competitive is the likes of Hunter, who was an all-league honorable mention in the Big Nine with a 1.38 ERA and a 4-2 record.

Also on the roster is Josh Munoz and Redal, who played on the Columbia Basin Junior Riverdogs at the 16-year-old Babe Ruth World Series.

"I am trying to bring in a team concept that 16 guys are going to win the game before one guy wins the game," McNamara said. "The other thing is, I want them to believe in themselves."