Moses Lake still searching for season's first win

CORVALLIS, Ore. — Moses Lake is just two seasons removed from a West Coast League championship and the Pirates find themselves in an 0-13 hole to start the 2009 season.

The Pirates are a league-worst 10.5 games out of first place in the east division and have struggled both at the plate and on the mound.

As of June 22, Moses Lake had just two players batting above .300 for the Pirates. Moses Lake native Curran Redal has a .333 batting average and outfielder Richie Allen is batting .308 for the Pirates.

Although the Pirates have a pair of hitters batting above .300, only Allen is still contributing at the plate for the Pirates. Redal played in one game this season before undergoing Tommy John surgery on his throwing arm June 12. Redal was scheduled to have surgery prior to playing for  the Pirates this season.

With only Allen batting above .300 in 13 games this season, the Pirates find themselves near the bottom of the league in most offensive categories except one.

Moses Lake shortstop Chris Casazza is tied for the league lead in home runs this season.

Casazza has driven three baseballs out of West Coast League stadiums and is tied for the league lead with Jeremy Mayo of the Kelowna Falcons.

Casazza’s three home runs this season are more than the Corvallis Knights (1), Wenatchee AppleSox (1), Bellingham Bells (1), Spokane RiverHawks (0), and Kitsap BlueJackets (0) combined.

Only the Kelowna Falcons (6), Bend Elks (4), and Casazza’s Moses Lake Pirates (4) have hit more home runs as a team.

Despite leading the league in home runs, Casazza is batting just .273 this season while remaining in the league’s top five in slugging percentage at .545.

With Casazza’s power at the plate, the Pirates are capable of turning around the 2009 season.

Although Casazza has hit three home runs this season, all have been solo shots.

The Pirates have struggled to put runners on base this season but when they have Moses Lake native Zane Bator has found a way to drive them in. Bator is tied for the league lead in sacrifice flies (2) and has driven in a total of three runs this season.

The Pirates have struggled at the plate to start the season and have found little help on the mound. Pirates pitchers are 0-13 with a league-worst 5.63 ERA and .300 opponent batting average.

Despite having the only pitching staff with an opponent batting average of .300 or above, Moses Lake has two pitchers among the league’s elite in total strike outs.

Pitcher Tony Smith leads the West Coast League in strike outs with 15 and John Robinson is sitting in third place with 13. Just three strike outs separate the league’s top three pitchers.

Although Robinson is among the league leaders in strike outs, he has struggled to find the winning combination on the mound.

Robinson is 0-3 this season.

Moses Lake has gotten off to a sluggish start in 2009 and the Pirates sail into the weekend looking for their first win of the season when they take on the Bend Elks (6-6) tonight in Corvallis, Ore., in the opener of a three-game series.

The Pirates are three games into an 11-game road trip and will not return to the friendly confines of Larson Playfield until July 7 when the host the Kitsap BlueJackets.