Perfect baseball storm sinks Chief's ship

RICHLAND — Leading 11-2 in the fifth inning against the University Titans, the Moses Lake Chiefs allowed 10 unanswered runs to suffer a heartbreaking 12-11 defeat that knocked the Chiefs out of the 4A regional baseball playoffs Saturday.

Moses Lake jumped out to a 5-0 first inning lead and looked like they would cruise into the regional finals. After loading the bases to start the game, Brett Fredericksen's RBI single gave Moses Lake a 2-0 lead. Jacob Lacelle followed Fredericksen with a 3-run home run over the left field fence that had Moses Lake up by five before the Chiefs had recorded their first out of the game.

Rather than relax with the early lead, the Chiefs' offense kept producing, building a 7-0 lead in the third inning that grew to 11-2 in the fifth.

"Our guys played hard," said Moses Lake coach Ed McNamara. "They didn't sit on that 5-0 lead."

University chipped away at Moses Lake's 9-run lead, cutting the margin to 11-7 entering the bottom of the seventh inning.

"When you're up that much, a couple runs here and a couple runs there didn't mean much," said McNamara when looking back on the game. "I though we had the game completely under control."

The seventh inning got off to an ominous start for Moses Lake, as an error on a routine ground ball allowed the Titans' leadoff batter to reach base. While the play would ultimately contribute to the Chiefs' loss, McNamara felt the play was just one of many that went against Moses Lake.

"There were other opportunities we had to win the game," said McNamara.

Chiefs' reliever Chase Hunter, who came in for starter Troy Stephens in the seventh, then got the first out of the inning on a deep fly ball to center field that Aaron Morice caught just in front of the fence.

University followed Morice's catch with a soft infield single that found the perfect spot between the Chiefs' left-side infielders. Matt Valdez came over from third base to knock the ball down, but had no time to make a throw to first on the play.

The Titans then scrapped out a pair of base hits to score two runs and cut the Moses Lake lead to three. In both at-bats, as he did for the entire seventh inning, Hunter had the Titan batters off balance and struggling to make contact. However, University somehow managed to get just enough wood on the ball each time to find a hole in the Moses Lake defense.

"He had them fooled. He did what he was supposed to do," said McNamara of Hunter. "Some freaky things happened. He did not lose the game."

Leading by two runs, Hunter struck out University's Craig Keeton for the second out of the inning.

Dan Jordan then came to the plate for the Titans with the potential to win the game for University with one swing of the bat. Jordan's 3-run home run in the sixth inning took a big bite out of Moses Lake's 11-4 lead, and the Titans were hoping Jordan could connect on another big blast in the seventh.

Instead of the line shot Jordan hit in the sixth, the Titan junior shanked a pitch over the Moses Lake first baseman and into right field that brought in another run.

"They were hitting some balls that were kinda cheap," said McNamara of the way the Titans managed to turn weakly hit balls into base hits. "It's kinda hard to attribute it to anything. Baseball is a funny game."

University's Jacob Olsufka then drove the final nail in the Chiefs' coffin, slicing a double down the right field line that scored two runs. The Chiefs' managed to get the ball in to Lacelle at the plate, but University's Cory Benton beat the throw and Lacelle's sweeping tag by a good step to win the game.

"We felt pretty good and pretty strong," noted McNamara of the team's attitude entering the seventh inning with their top reliever on the mound and a four-run lead. "It was a tough way to go out."

Looking ahead to the 2008 season, Moses Lake loses only Fredericksen, Valdez, Hunter and Corey Hitchcock off the varsity roster. The Chiefs return first-team CBL selections Lacelle and Morice, along with second-teamer Stephens and others with plenty of talent to make another deep run into the playoffs.