Bells eek past rallying Pirates
Moses Lake Pirates pitcher Drew Martin started last night against the Bellingham Bells in WCL action at Larson Field. The Moses Lake High School graduate earned a no-decision in the team’s 4-3 loss.
MOSES LAKE — Just over a week remains in the West Coast League (WCL) baseball season and it may be an understatement to say the playoff plot is thickening.
MOSES LAKE - Just over a week remains in the West Coast League (WCL) baseball season and it may be an understatement to say the playoff plot is thickening.
The Moses Lake Pirates fell last night 4-3 at Larson Field in front of 818 fans despite another one of their patented rallies and now find themselves in an interesting race for the second and final playoff spot out of the East Division.
With Kelowna (20-25), and Moses Lake (21-24, 17-22 in WCL) both losing and a suddenly threatening Walla Walla (16-22) team moving forward, all three teams are within one-half game of one another for that prized post-season spot.
The defending WCL champions, Wenatchee (24-15) clinched the East division title last night.
"I am looking forward to it since it's always fun being in a race," Moses Lake head coach Steve Keller said. "It brings excitement to the fans and especially the players when they have something to play for. I'm looking forward to the race since it's been awhile since I've been in one."
The Pirates captured the first game of their series against the visiting Bells (21-22) on Tuesday before dropping a 10-7 decision Wednesday night.
On Thursday it appeared Bellingham were on their way to another victory heading into the later frames before the Pirates once again climbed back from a deficit.
Trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Pirates rallied with two runs on four hits.
Nathan Johnson (Whitworth University) led off the frame with a walk, and that was followed by back-to-back singles by Nick Frederick (Pomona College) and Bobby Lewis (Creighton University) to load the base with no outs.
Nate Roberts (Seattle University) then singled to bring home Johnson and Frederick and the game was tied at 3-3 with runners on first and second base with still no outs in the inning.
Tylor Pavel (Wenatchee Valley College) recorded the teams fourth-straight one-bagger and the bases were again loaded for the Pirates.
But then Bells pitcher Ben Ruff was brought in out of the bullpen and decided to bite back, striking out the last three Moses Lake batters to strand three baserunners and the leading run 90 feet from home plate.
"To have a brick wall thrown up in front of you and not being able to get one more run across is frustrating," Keller said. "They brought a pitcher in who came in and had all three of his pitches really dialed and the kids couldn't make it happen. It would have been nice to see one of three make contact but you got to take your hat off to him he came in and threw good pitches."
Moses Lake was left to rue their missed opportunity as Bellingham took the lead back in the top of the ninth inning when a two-out throwing error by Johnson allowed the Bells to take the 4-3 lead.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Ruff struck out two more Pirates batters and escaped with the narrow victory.
"I will harp on them a little bit to stay after the preparation," Keller said. "We are starting to get hit by the injury bug a little bit and they need to sacrifice some of the things they do outside baseball and stay home, rest, drink water, and keep staying excited about coming to the ballpark. To be a player to get a paycheck in this game is someone who that what you do is consistent over 210 days and your work ethic. They have to challenge themselves to stay on top of their game for these nine games at the end of the season."
Drew Martin (Moses Lake HS) started and earned a no decision with 5.2 innings pitched that included scattering eight hits, walking three, allowing two runs, and striking out four.
Moses Lake knocked out 12 hits and was led by the two-hit performances of Nick Karwacki (Big Bend CC), Frederick, Roberts, and Pavel.
Next the Pirates travel to Kitsap (22-18) for three games starting tonight at 7:05 p.m. before heading to Canada for three pivotal games against Kelowna.
Moses Lake will have a chance to take sole position of second place this weekend with at least one win since Kelowna will be idle.
However, they would have to at least win as many or more games than Walla Walla to keep the surging Sweets out of the second playoff spot.
Jordan Whitman (Cal Poly Pomona University) is scheduled to start for Moses Lake tonight, while Leo Rosetti (Pomona College) and Johnson will start the next two ballgames.
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