Pirates' season winds down

MOSES LAKE — The 2009 West Coast League (WCL) baseball season is coming to a close and the Moses Lake Pirates will begin their final homestand of the season tonight against the visiting Spokane RiverHawks.

The Pirates enter tonight’s one-game series against the RiverHawks with a 9-35 record.

While Moses Lake enters the final weekend of the season out of the playoff hunt, the Pirates have shown signs of improvement in the past few weeks.

The Pirates recently returned from a nine-game road trip. During the nine-game span, Moses Lake went 4-5. The Pirates went 4-2 against the RiverHawks and the Kelowna Falcons before dropping three straight games to the East Division champion Wenatchee.

Although the Pirates enter the weekend with the worst record in the WCL, the Pirates offense is coming around. Prior to last weekend’s three-game sweep at the hands of the AppleSox, Moses Lake had won four of six on the road and five of seven overall.

During the nine-game road trip, Moses Lake shortstop Chris Casazza broke the WCL record for most home runs in a season when he hit his seventh home run of the year against the Kelowna Falcons on July 28.

In his first season with the Pirates, Casazza has shown unprecedented power.

Casazza added to his WCL home run record July 31 when he hit a pair of home runs in the series opener against Wenatchee. Casazza’s nine home runs are equal to or more than four WCL teams. Only the Bend Elks, Bellingham Bells and Falcons have hit more home runs than Casazza.

In addition to his WCL home run record, Casazza has been a force offensively. Casazza currently ranks second in slugging percentage at .510 and leads the league in total bases with 75.

Casazza isn’t the only Pirate to show power at the plate this season. Moses Lake leads the league in total home runs with 22, dwarfing second-place Kelowna’s 16.

While Casazza and the Pirates have shown power at the plate, Moses Lake’s pitching staff is beginning to come around as well.

Moses Lake starting pitcher John Robinson ranks fifth in the league in total strike outs with 39 and starting pitcher Billy Armstrong has won his last two starts — a 1-0 decision over the AppleSox on July 23 and a 8-3 decision over the Kelowna Falcons on July 30.

Moses Lake enters their four-game weekend homestand with a single game against Spokane before hosting the Kelowna Falcons in a three-game series to close out the season.

The first pitch for each game of the homestand is scheduled for at 7:35 p.m.