Pirates conquer one nemesis, sunk by another

BEND, Ore. — Having lost all four meetings with the Corvallis Knights this season, their only four losses on the year thus far, it was beginning to appear that the Moses Lake Pirates would never beat their West Coast Collegiate Baseball League foes to the south.

Trailing 1-0 entering the ninth inning last Wednesday in Corvallis, the Pirates put on their own fireworks display on the Fourth of July, scoring five runs on four extra-base hits to defeat the Knights 5-1. Thursday, Moses Lake used another comeback effort to down Corvallis 4-2 and take the three-game series from the Knights.

The magic the Pirates found in Corvallis apparently didn't follow them on their next stop, as Moses Lake suffered a pair of 9-2 losses Friday and Saturday to the Bend Elks to fall to 14-6 on the season.

Bend did something no one else in WCCBL play has been able to do this season — score runs of Moses Lake starting pitching. The Pirates, who entered the Bend series with a 1.74 earned run average, saw that figure balloon to 2.28 after just two games. While the weekend was a rough one for the Pirates, the sting of the losses to Bend was eased by the two wins over Corvallis.

In Wednesday's thrilling comeback victory, the Pirates opened the ninth inning with two quick outs, and it appeared Moses Lake would once again fall to Corvallis. Pirates coach Gabe Boruff then sent Steve Swinford in to pinch hit, and Swinford responded with a double that flipped the switch on one of the biggest power surges of the season for Moses Lake.

T.J. Bernardy followed Swinford with another double, tying the game at 1. Ryan Bernsen followed Bernardy with Moses Lake's third straight double, his third base hit of the night, to put the Pirates up 2-1.

Billy Swanson then struck out swinging for what could have been the final out of the inning, but the ball got past the Knights catcher and Swanson reached first base safely. Zach Kim made Corvallis pay for the mistake with a two-run triple to put Moses Lake up 4-1. A Steve Tinoco single later gave Moses Lake their final run of the inning.

Lee Roberts came in the bottom of the ninth to close the game out for the Pirates, letting two runners get on base but using a strikeout and a double play to get out of the jam. Cam Gill, who came on to relieve starter Michael Ratigan in the eighth inning, earned his first win of the season Wednesday.

Thursday, the Pirates fell behind 2-0 after the first inning, but scored two runs in the second and two more in the sixth to beat the Knights 4-2. Dale Reneau pitched seven solid innings to improve his season record to 3-0. Ben Graham tossed a scoreless ninth inning for his first save of the season.

The Pirates posted a balanced offensive attack, as seven players contributed to the team's total of eight base hits on the day. Mike Capbarat went 1 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored, and Jesse Ayala was 2 for 3 on the day for Moses Lake.

Friday, Bend jumped on Moses Lake starter Ben Guidos right away, scoring four runs off the University of Washington pitcher in the second inning. Marcus Tackett came on to relieve Guidos in the second, going 4 2/3 innings and allowing just one run. The Pirates couldn't get their offense going, as they didn't score until they picked up a pair of runs in the seventh inning.

Moses Lake cranked out 12 base hits, including a 3 for 5 performance by Tinoco and 2 for 4 efforts from Kevin Coddington, Ratigan and Swanson. Those base hits didn't translate into runs, as the Pirates stranded 10 base runners Friday.

Saturday, it appeared Moses Lake starter Cam Gill had the Elks bats under control, as he allowed just one hit through five innings of work. In the sixth, however, Bend rallied for five runs on six hits to knock Gill out of the game.

Moses Lake cut into the Bend lead with two runs in the eighth to make it 5-2, but Bend responded with four runs off Pirates' reliever Graham in the bottom of the eighth.

The Pirates finished up their series with Bend Sunday night, then travel to Wenatchee Tuesday to take on the AppleSox. Moses Lake returns to Larson Field Wednesday for game two of the series with the AppleSox before returning to Wenatchee to finish up the three-game series.