Pirates drop another in Wenatchee
Apple Sox 9
PIRATES 2
WENATCHEE — Coming in to their series against the Wenatchee Apple Sox, the Moses Lake Pirates were riding the wave of a seven-game winning streak and the momentum of catching the West Coast League (WCL) defending champs in the East Division standings.
But the early season success the Apple Sox had against the Pirates at Larson Field in June carried over for these past two days up north and last night the Apple Sox took care of business in a 9-2 win over Moses Lake.
Wenatchee won 9-4 on Tuesday.
The Pirates (16-16 overall, 12-14 in WCL play) have now fallen three-and-a-half games back in the East and have a narrow half-game lead on third-place Kelowna for the second and other playoff spot from the division if the season were to end today.
“Baseball’s happened,” Moses Lake coach Steve Keller. “They’ve taken it to us in baseball situations. If you take out one inning over the last few nights, things could be different. I don’t feel a ton has happened other than us needing to take care of a few baseball plays. We’ve hit the ball just as hard as they have.”
Moses Lake got on the board first against Wenatchee (16-11) when they scored in the top of the third inning.
Austin Shackelford (University of Utah) got on with a one-out hit-by-pitch at-bat and would eventually come on a Wenatchee fielding error to make it 1-0.
However, the Pirates lost that momentum as Wenatchee scored four runs in the bottom of the frame to take command.
In the top of the fifth inning, Duncan Blades (Salt Lake CC) singled with one out and would score one batter later on a Michael Bush (Lewis and Clark College) single to make it 4-2.
But once again Wenatchee would wrest the game’s mojo back from Moses Lake with three runs in the bottom of the fifth to secure the win.
“It’s huge to give back momentum,” Keller said. “When you’re down you let it slip away. It didn’t get away from us but they were just really good at getting at us back-to-back and putting pressure on you. If you don’t put 100 percent mental ability behind it can cost you. It’s the ability to minimize. During our streak we have stayed away from four-run innings. It’s on me to stop the game and create momentum changes on our behalf.”
Leo Rosetti (Pomona College) suffered the loss for the Pirates, throwing 4.1 innings while giving up seven earned runs as his ERA was bumped up to 4.17.
Shackelford and Nate Roberts (Seattle University) each had two hits to lead the offense which finished with eight base knocks total.
With Wenatchee holding a 5-0 series lead and tiebreaker if the squads would tie for a playoff or division title spot, the Pirates now hope to claim at least one win and keep within striking distance of their rivals as they wrap things up tonight at 7:05 p.m. at Paul Thomas Stadium.
“We were on a roll coming in to the series because we were playing our game,” Keller said. “It would be nice to get a win but it’s not the most crucial thing I am worried about in terms of the scoreboard. I just want quality at-bats and recognition of playing ‘this’ pitch and not the scoreboard. A win would still be nice because it could get the monkey off our back.”