River Dogs stumble at Showtime Invitational

BATTLE GROUND, Wash. — The Columbia Basin River Dogs struggled over the weekend, finishing the Showtime Invitational at Battle Ground High School in Battle Ground, Wash., 1-4.

Columbia Basin head coach Randy Boruff said his team did not perform well over the weekend.

“It wasn’t very good,” he said. “We went 1-4 when actually we should have been 4-1.”

The River Dogs got off to a slow start, dropping their Showtime Invitational opener to the Seattle Buzz 12-7 to begin tournament play 0-1.

Columbia Basin fared little better in their second game of Showtime Invitational, dropping a 9-3 decision to the Seattle Bombers.

The River Dogs got off to a slow start over the weekend, struggling offensively and defensively, Boruff said.

“When we pitch well we struggle at the plate,” he said. “When we are hitting, we struggle defensively.

While the River Dogs fell to 0-2 after two games, Columbia Basin rolled in their third game of the tournament, River Dogs assistant coach Jerry Thaut said.

“We won the third game 17-10 against the Seattle Shockers,” he said. “We had 19 hits.”

After the River Dogs rolled to the win over the Shockers in game three, Columbia Basin and the Shockers met again in the fourth game of the tournament.

The River Dogs turned to pitcher Blaine Myers of Moses Lake in game four.

Myers kept the Shockers guessing throughout the contest, holding the Seattle team to just two runs on three hits.

Although the Shockers struggled to connect with pitches from Myers, the Moses Lake High School graduate lost the decision 2-0, Thaut said.

“He threw excellent,” Thaut said. “He kept them off balance all day.”

While Myers threw well against the Shockers, Thaut said the River Dogs struggled at the plate.

“That has been a little bit of an Achilles heel for us,” he said. “We haven’t been able to get that key hit. We are hitting the ball, we are just hitting it at guys.”

The River Dogs wrapped up tournament play with a 6-5 loss to the Showtime Bombers. Columbia Basin controlled the tempo of the contest early on, taking a 5-1 lead into the top of the seventh inning.

With the game on the line, the Bombers rallied for five runs in the top of the seventh and the River Dogs couldn’t respond as they fell to 1-4 in tournament play.

Although the River Dogs struggled over the weekend, Thaut said the team remains confident as the season winds down.

“Baseball has a way of kind of evening itself out,” he said. “We are kind of hoping this weekend in Bellevue, (Wash.), and at the world series things will start to go our way.”