Pirates drop two straight against Sweets
Moses Lake Pirates first baseman Nick Frederick (in red) has plenty of time to record an out against the Walla Walla Sweets on Saturday night.
MOSES LAKE — With a West Coast League (WCL) East Division race at hand, the Moses Lake Pirates hoped to use their current six-game homestand at Larson Field as a way to keep pace with the leading Wenatchee Apple Sox.
Halfway through this week of home games, the Pirates (18-18 overall, 14-16 WCL) took a small tumble with a 3-1 loss last night at Larson Field to drop two of three against the visiting Walla Walla Sweets.
The Pirates bats were held in check by Sweets pitcher Joey Wagman who held Moses Lake to five hits and one fifth inning run.
“(Wagman) threw a lot of changeups and pitched backwards really well,” Pirates head coach Steve Keller said. “He located his pitches well and he threw good changeups. We also weren’t swinging at the good pitches.”
Walla Walla (11-21) set up the rubber game of the series with a resounding 6-2 win on Saturday.
Both teams battled back-and-forth to a scoreless tie through five innings before the Sweets managed to get to Pirates starter Mike Garza in the sixth.
Using a combination of solid hitting and patient at-bats, Walla Walla used timely and well-placed hits along with two key walks to score five runs and keep their hosts at bay from there on out.
Moses Lake found a way to score two runs in the bottom of the frame but Walla Walla starter Kody Young kept the damage minimal for the win.
Nick Frederick (Pomona College), Trent Johnson (University of Utah), and Michael Bush (Lewis and Clark College) each had two hits to lead the Pirates’ attack.
Frederick recorded both RBI for Moses Lake while Garza took the loss.
In the series opener on Friday, Moses Lake stormed out of the gates early in a 6-4 win.
Moses Lake scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning to set the tone.
Austin Shackelford (University of Utah) singled and scored on Duncan Blades’ (Salt Lake CC) single on the next at-bat.
Blades came around to score after getting to second on the throw to home to try and nab Shackelford, when Frederick singled him in for a 2-0 lead.
Frederick stole second and Bush drove him in with the team’s fourth consecutive single.
Nate Roberts (Seattle University) would get on via a fielder’s choice, forcing Bush, and would score after an error and Tylor Pavel (Wenatchee Valley College) single and the Pirates led 4-0.
Walla Walla then knocked in three runs off of Pirates starter Tyler Druffel (Big Bend CC) with a three-run fourth inning to cut the deficit to 4-3.
The Pirates responded with two in the bottom half of the frame, as Josh Rapacz (George Fox University) led off with a double and would score two outs later on a Shackelford two-run homerun.
With the score 6-3 in favor of the Pirates, Walla Walla tagged Druffel with another run in the top of the fifth to knock out the Viking and keep him from earning the win.
Tony Smith (Eastern New Mexico University) earned the win with 2.1 innings pitched in relief while Eric Yardley (Seattle University) earned the save.
Next up, Moses Lake begin a three-game set with the Bend Elks tonight with the first pitch scheduled for 7:35 p.m.
Bend won the teams’ earlier series in Oregon, two-games-to-one, in a high scoring weekend affair.
“I feel pretty good, we just need to get back to work,” Keller said. “That’s the nature of this league. Things don’t come easy. It’s always fun playing good teams.”
Starting for Moses Lake will be Leo Rosetti (Pomona College) as he will try to keep the West Division Elks (24-10) in check.
NOTES: Tonight will be Motorcycle Night at Larson Field. People can bring their cycles to the field and if they arrive between 6-6:20 p.m., they can park inside the fence. Anyone on a motorcyle gets $2 off of their admission. Ice cream bars will be sold for $1...Tomorrow will be “Christmas in July” as Larson Field and the Pirates celebrate the winter holiday a little early...Through Saturday’s games, Roberts led the team in batting (.326), with Blades close on his heels with a .319. Frederick leads the team with two homeruns and in RBI (22). Blades leads the Pirates with 15 stolen bases. On the mound, Drew Martin (Moses Lake HS) and Smith lead the team with three wins, with the former earning his as a starter and the latter mostly earning his in relief. Yardley leads the team with a 2.82 ERA out of the pitchers with a minimum of 20 innings pitched. Once at the bottom of the league in hitting, the Pirates were third in the WCL with a .268 average heading into the finale with Walla Walla. Their pitching remained sixth in the league with a 4.06 ERA.
Become a Subscriber!
You have read all of your free articles this month. Select a plan below to start your subscription today.
Already a subscriber? Login
