Close but not enough for Pirates
Elks 9
PIRATES 7
MOSES LAKE — During the Moses Lake Pirates’ three game series with the visiting Bend Elks at Larson Field, coaches, players, and fans were able to see a little bit of everything.
In the case of the Pirates it may end up being a very good thing.
After following up a blowout win on Monday with a low-scoring, grind-it-out victory the following night, the Pirates would need to pull a rabbit out of their hat to trump the previous two games and sweep the series.
In some ways, despite losing the series finale last night, 9-7, the Pirates may have indeed saved their best for last.
As they head into the final 15 games of the West Coast League (WCL) season, they gave the 722 spectators a show of ultimate heart as a late rally came up just short.
“It shows how competitive they are and that they like to play all 27 outs,” Moses Lake Pirates coach Steve Keller said. “I just like how our guys go with the ups and downs of the game and can come back at any time of the game. It doesn’t matter who we play against it’s how you play your game.”
Trailing 9-3 going into their final at-bats, Moses Lake (20-19 overall, 16-17 in WCL) play fought back with four runs and found a way to put the tying run at the plate before running out of gas.
Moses Lake took the lead 2-1 after the first inning after a strong first trip to the plate.
Austin Shackelford (University of Utah) singled, Duncan Blades (Salt Lake CC) walked, and then one out later Michael Bush (Lewis and Clark College) singled to load the bases.
Nate Roberts (Seattle University) then singled himself to bring in Shackelford and Blades to put the Pirates up.
But then Bend’s always threatening big bats came alive in the top of the third inning as they erupted for seven runs with 12 batters coming to the plate before knocking out Pirates starter Jordan Whitman (Cal Poly Pomona) who was tagged with the loss.
Trailing 9-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, the Pirates began their methodical attempt at a comeback with one run.
Justin Byrd (Cal Berkeley) reached base on an error by the third baseman and would score two batters later on a Blades single.
Moses Lake relief pitching kept the Elks (25-12) bats in check heading into the ninth to set the stage for a potential rally.
Kris Carlson (Wenatchee Valley College) pitched 4.2 innings, allowing one run while striking out six Bend batters, and Eric Yardley (Seattle University) and Tony Smith (Eastern New Mexico) each threw one shutout inning out of the bullpen.
In the bottom of the ninth inning the Pirates got started when Bryan Karwacki (Big Bend CC) singled.
Andrew Rodriguez (San Jose State) followed that at bat with a walk and Shackelford loaded the bases with a single.
Just when things started to get going everything seemed to stall as Bend recorded the first two outs and Bush came to the plate with the bases still full.
Bush would walk to bring home Karwacki, making it 9-4.
Roberts would then get the crowd going with a double to clear the bases and the score was 9-7.
Bend then brought in Joey Donofrio who would strike out Tylor Pavel (Wenatchee Valley College) to end the Pirates’ threat.
The two teams split the season series, 3-3, and if the season were to end today, they would play in the WCL semifinals.
The loss, combined with a Kelowna win, narrowed the Pirates lead for second in the East Division to two games, while Moses Lake lost ground on Wenatchee who tops the standings by three games.
Moses Lake now takes to the road for a three-game series in Corvallis which begins tonight at 6:35 p.m.
Corvallis (19-14) currently sits in second place in the WCL West Division and took two-of-three games in Moses Lake back in June.