River Dogs finish Baden Invitational at .500

SEATTLE — The Columbia Basin River Dogs struggled over the weekend at the Baden Invitational  tournament at the University of Washington in Seattle to finish tournament play with a 2-2 record.

The River Dogs struggled from the beginning of the irfirst game, dropping their tournament opener to the Northwest Warriors 8-4.

Columbia Basin head coach Randy Boruff said his team did not finish the tournament on a high note.

“In my opinion, I don’t think we played exceptionally well this weekend,” he said. “We gave up four unearned runs against the Northwest Warriors in the first inning.”

The River Dogs dug an early hole for themselves against the Warriors and were unable to get out as the dropped their first game 8-4.

Despite dropping their tournament opener, the River Dogs rebounded to top the Seattle Shockers 10-7 in their second game.

Although Columbia Basin improved to 1-1 in tournament play with the victory, the River Dogs got off to a slow start.

Columbia Basin starting pitcher Adam Ranger gave up six runs in the second inning before Boruff brought in Marc Garza to finish the game for the River Dogs.

“I brought in Garza and he went 5 1/3 innings and allowed one run on two hits to get the win,” he said.

While the River Dogs struggled defensively in their first two games, they showed signs of brilliance at the plate in their win over the Shockers.

Moses Lake’s Dylan Signorelli had a double and a home run for the River Dogs and Ephrata’s Tyson Hubbard added a home run of his own in the 10-7 win.

Although Moses Lake tried to maintain their momentum from their game-two victory, Taylor Baseball of Seattle stopped it.

Taylor scored seven runs with two outs in the first inning and rolled to a 12-1 victory over the River Dogs.

Despite finishing their first three games with a 1-2 record, Boruff said his pitchers got off to a slow start.

“Our starting pitching in the first three games wasn’t as sharp as it has been,” he said.

Though the River Dogs pitching was marginal in their first three contests, Moses Lake’s Blaine Myers rose to the occasion for the River Dogs in their tournament finale.

Myers helped lift the River Dogs to a 6-2 win over the Seattle Bombers and Boruff said his pitcher threw well.”

“We got a good starting pitching performance out of Blaine Myers,” Boruff said after the win.

Although the River Dogs struggled over the weekend, Boruff is hoping his team well come around as the 2009 Babe Ruth World Series approaches.

“We haven’t been very consistent as players and as a team,” he said. “But we haven’t peaked yet. Our best baseball is still ahead us.”