Pirates win second straight series

MOSES LAKE — With starting pitcher Josh Enyart out of the game before the third inning due to soreness in his arm, the Pirates bullpen stepped in to shut down the Bellingham offense as the Pirates defeated the Bells 3-0 Sunday.

Moses Lake's second shutout of the year was pieced together by Enyart and four Pirates' relievers. After Enyart left the game, Travis Bertholf, Derek Shoemaker, Brian Yoakum and Brian Parker combined to scatter five hits in seven scoreless innings. Only four Bellingham runners advanced to second base.

"My pitchers are starting to show what they can do in certain spots," said Moses Lake coach Gabe Boruff. "Travis Bertholf threw really well for us."

While the pitchers did their job from the mound, the Pirates defense once again stepped up to make big plays behind their pitchers. The WCCBL's top fielding defense played error free ball, turned a double play and threw out a pair of Bellingham base stealers.

In addition, first baseman Austin Jones made a difficult diving catch of a Bellingham pop foul just short of the fence in short right field to get the Pirates out of the third inning.

Moses Lake got on the board in the fourth inning with what would turn out to be a very costly run.

Bo Thunell led off the inning with a single, stole second base and advanced to third on a Jameson Lange sacrifice grounder. On the play, Thunell slid hard into third base and came up with an injured ankle. Unable to walk on the injured limb, Thunell was forced to come out of the game.

"It's gonna be tough to lose him," Boruff said of the teams second leading RBI producer.

Thunell was replaced at third by Lou Tran, who scored on a Brett Munster broken-bat groundout to shortstop to give the Pirates an early lead.

In the fifth inning, Moses Lake put together a two-out rally that was capped by a Billy Krause two-RBI double to the wall in right field.

"We've been doing a good job with runners in scoring position," noted Boruff of his team's clutch hitting.

Against the Bells Sunday, Moses Lake stranded only four runners on base. Bellingham left nine runners on base. Leading the way for the Pirates offensively was Moses Lake native Jameson Lange, who went 2-2 on the afternoon.

After losing the opening game of the series 4-2 Friday, the Moses Lake offense came alive to even the series with a 6-4 victory on Saturday.

In the Pirates' victory, Richie Snider went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs and a walk. Thunell and Boo Christenson each scored twice as Moses Lake cranked out 10 hits in the win.