Pitching does the trick again

Pirates 1 AppleSox 0

MOSES LAKE — It's not as though the Moses Lake Pirates are a poor offensive team, but their pitching staff has seen them through a few cold spells at the plate this season.

That was true again Wednesday night as the Pirates closed out a three-game series with the Wenatchee AppleSox at Larson Field, winning 1-0 behind another stellar performance from starter Tyler Rogers.

"Right now our pitching is carrying us, and last night our pitching carried us," Moses Lake head coach Gabe Boruff said, referring to Tuesday's 2-1 defeat in Wenatchee that saw Dale Reneau lose despite eight great innings.

Rogers shut out the AppleSox on four singles in seven innings. He improved his overall record to 4-1 and lowered his earned-run average from the 1.85 mark he brought into the game.

"I just felt good — all my stuff was there," Rogers said. "Anything I wanted to throw, I was able to throw where I wanted."

The Pirates (27-12) and AppleSox (20-18) will see each other again next Monday to open the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League playoffs. Rogers believed it important for Moses Lake to send a message and take Wednesday's rubber game.

"It's nice to win a series," he said. "We had a tough loss last night, another close game. It's nice to come out here and set a good tone going into the playoffs."

The game's only score came in the first inning, with the Pirates getting an unearned run off Wenatchee starter Wade Kitchens.

Leadoff man Zach Kim slapped the first pitch he saw into center field for a single. The speedy Kim then stole second and third, his 15th and 16th swipes of the summer. With Marcus Tackett at first, Moses Lake used a double steal that resulted in Wenatchee catcher Brian Rittereiser sailing the ball into center, letting Kim trot home.

Wenatchee's only major threat of the evening came in the second after Ryan Davis reached on a leadoff bunt single and stole second. With two outs, Vinnie Catricala singled, but Moses Lake left fielder Billy Swanson gunned down Davis at the plate.

Other than that, Rogers barely broke a sweat, throwing 37 pitches in the first five innings.

"When you have a performance like that, you know a guy's feeling good," Boruff said.

Warden's Jorge Reyes came out of the bullpen in the eighth — something he did for a good portion of his freshman season at Oregon State — and got the two-inning save, striking out three of the six hitters he faced. Reyes will be a reliever for the remainder of the season.

"We're going to play him in the pen because he's thrown a lot of innings this year," Boruff said. "He's got a great career ahead of him if he stays healthy."

There is some concern over the Pirates' recent offensive struggles. They struck out 13 times Wednesday against Kitchens and reliever Garrett Dorn. Boruff feels that's a product of not taking a proper two-strike approach.

"Some of our kids need to learn how to make adjustments throughout the game and they're not doing that," he said. "Most guys, throughout a game, are going to get two strikes. You've gotta learn to foul it off, battle up there and then win that battle.

"We have one of the highest batting averages in the league and we need to pick it up and show everyone that we are an offensive team."

Boruff said Wednesday that Reneau, 5-2 with a 1.40 ERA in eight starts, would be leaving after Saturday's regular-season finale to return to Oral Roberts University. That means Rogers, Michael Ratigan and Ben Guidos will form Moses Lake's playoff rotation, with Tackett getting a possible spot start.

Ratigan (3-1, 2.76) goes Thursday as the Pirates open a three-game set with the Bellingham Bells. Josh Fish and Cam Gill will likely start the final two games so the team can rest its other arms for the postseason.