Spokane keeps Moses Lake winless after sweep
Bill Stevenson/Columbia Basin Herald<br> Moses Lake Pirates third baseman DC Legg (4) attempts to field the baseball while Spokane RiverHawks Jason Brunansky (21) slides into the base during the first inning of Friday night's game at Larson Playfield.
MOSES LAKE — For the second consecutive game, the Moses Lake Pirates fell behind early to Spokane and the RiverHawks rolled past Moses Lake Saturday to complete the sweep and keep the Pirates winless.
The RiverHawks capitalized on a lead-off single in the top of the first and Spokane scored a pair of runs off of Moses Lake starting pitcher Billy Armstrong to take an early 2-0 lead.
Spokane added a run in the fourth inning when Spokane first baseman Nik Balog led off the inning with a double.
Balog moved to third on a sacrifice and scored when Jason Brunansky singled to right field.
Moses Lake closed the gap in the sixth inning after center fielder Peter Kelly walked to lead off the inning.
After right fielder Seth Anderson popped out to shortstop Ian Atkinson, Kelly stole second base to move into scoring position. With two outs in the sixth, shortstop Chris Casazza singled. Kelly scored following an error from Spokane third baseman Dylan Gavin and the Pirates pulled within 3-1.
Armstrong started the seventh for the Pirates, retiring two of the first three batters he would face in the inning.
After Armstrong forced Spokane second baseman Sean Winston to ground out to Jye Lanphere at third, RiverHawks left fielder Billy Moon walked. Moon stole second and scored on an RBI single from Phil Johnson and Spokane regained a three-run advantage at 4-1.
Spokane relief pitcher Kyle Anderson kept the Pirates hitless through his three innings of work and the RiverHawks completed the two-game sweep.
Friday
Spokane 4,
Moses Lake 3
MOSES LAKE — Spokane jumped on the Pirates early Friday night, scoring a pair of runs in the top of the first inning and Moses Lake dropped their 10th consecutive game to start the season.
Moses Lake starting pitcher John Robinson threw 6 2/3 innings Friday night, giving up six hits. Robinson allowed four runs in the loss, two of them earned.
The RiverHawks jumped on the Pirates in the first, scoring two runs on three hits to take an early lead over Moses Lake.
After a rocky start to Friday night’s contest, Robinson settled down to keep the RiverHawks off of the scoreboard into the seventh inning.
Spokane starting pitcher Garrett Luippold kept the Pirates off balance for the first four innings of the contest before Moses Lake got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth.
Moses Lake second baseman Nathan Bobrowski walked to lead off the fifth and he would come around to score the Pirates’ first run of the contest following an RBI single from center fielder Richie Allen.
After Moses Lake pulled within a run at 2-1 in the fifth, Spokane jumped on the Pirates in the top of the seventh.
Robinson struck out Spokane catcher Cody Rickman to lead off the inning, but RiverHawks center fielder Jason Brunansky reached on an error by Moses Lake third baseman DC Legg.
Robinson recorded his second out of the inning when Spokane shortstop Ian Atkinson grounded out and Robinson seemed destined to get out of the inning unscathed before another error from Legg scored Brunansky.
Spokane added another run in the seventh after Legg committed his third error of the inning and the RiverHawks led 4-1.
Although the Pirates found themselves trailing late in the contest, Moses Lake rallied in the eighth.
Allen singled to left to lead off the eighth and Legg followed with a single of his own and the Pirates had runners at first and second with no outs.
Following a wild pitch from Spokane reliever Kyle Lawton, Allen and Legg advanced to third and second, respectively.
After Chris Casazza struck out for Moses Lake’s first out of the inning, right fielder Zane Bator hit a sacrifice fly to right field and Moses Lake pulled within 4-2 of the RiverHawks.
Legg advanced to third on the sacrifice fly and first baseman Brock Gates hit a two-out single to center field to score Legg.
Moses Lake pitcher Miles Scribner threw 2 1/3 innings of no-hit baseball in relief of Robinson. Scribner kept the RiverHawks off of the scoreboard and the Pirates went into the bottom of the ninth trailing by a run.
Left fielder Jye Lanphere reached base on an error to lead off the ninth, but Spokane relief pitcher Paul Sewald recorded back-to-back strike outs and forced Allen to fly out to center field to close the door on the Pirates.
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