River Dogs take second in tourney

KENNEWICK, Wash. — The Columbia Basin River Dogs continued their march to the 2009 Babe Ruth World Series over the weekend with a second-place finish at the Bandits Bash baseball tournament in Kennewick, Wash.

The River Dogs cruised to victories in their first three contests over the weekend to clinch a spot in Sunday morning’s semifinal contest with the Kennewick Bandits.

Columbia Basin head coach Randy Boruff said his team performed well at the tournament.

“I am happy with our hitting,” he said. “We played pretty good defense.”

Tyson Hubbard of Ephrata helped the River Dogs get off to a fast start in their game-one victory over the Tri-Cities Titans. Hubbard went 3-for-3 with a home run.

Othello’s Marc Garza went 3-for-5 and Adam Ranger of Naches earned the victory on the mound.

The River Dogs continued their journey to the finals with a 7-3 extra-inning victory over Toyota Baseball of Bellevue, Wash., in game two.

Moses Lake’s Josh Martinez was perfect at the plate for the River Dogs, going 4-for-4 and River Dogs pitcher Mike Garza of Othello got the win on the hill for Columbia Basin.

The River Dogs rolled to a 3-0 start during the Bandits Bash tournament when Jacob Lacelle pushed Columbia Basin to a 9-8 victory over the Vancouver Cardinals. Lacelle went 3-for-4 in the victory with a home run for the River Dogs.

Following the victory over the Cardinals, the River Dogs wrapped up a berth into the tournament’s semifinals before dropping their next two games, the first to Taylor Baseball of Seattle and the second to the Hanford Flames, Boruff said.

“We had already clinched a spot in the semifinals so we let some of our catchers pitch,” he said.

With victories in their first three contests, the River Dogs rolled into Sunday morning’s semifinal contest with the Kennewick Bandits.

Martinez continued to cruise at the plate, going 3-for-4 and Brett Robinson of Ephrata also went 3-for-4 and the River Dogs held on for a 13-6 victory over the Bandits.

The win sent the River Dogs into the tournament championship against Taylor Baseball.

Taylor Baseball jumped on the River Dogs early and Columbia Basin couldn’t recover and Taylor Baseball rolled to a 12-2 victory.

Othello’s Shon Valdez provided the lone offensive spark for the River Dogs, driving a pair of runs with a base hit.

Although the River Dogs fell to Taylor Baseball in the championship Sunday afternoon, the River Dogs will not see Taylor in the Babe Ruth World Series, Boruff said.

“Taylor (Baseball) is a select team from Seattle,” he said. “We have gotten thumped three times by Taylor (Baseball), but they are not a Babe Ruth team.”

Despite reaching the tournament’s championship game, Boruff said his team is still not complete.

“We have been in the championship game of every tournament we have played in,” he said. “We are 17-9. We have played almost half of our season and (this weekend) we are going to finally get to play as a whole team.”

Boruff said his entire River Dogs team will be together for the first time this weekend when they travel to Pullman, Wash., to participate in the Palouse Summer Series.

“The first time we will have had (the team) together will be this weekend in Pullman,” he said. “We definitely will be tournament ready and in good shape when August rolls around.”