Pirates return home to shut out Corvallis

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Pirates left town for the first time this season, last weekend, still looking for its offense.

They found it, cultivated it, and decided they liked it so much they decided to bring it back home.

Too bad for the Corvallis Knights (4-7) that newfound Moses Lake offense decided it liked its new surroundings as the host Pirates blitzed the visitors 7-0 last night in the first of a three-game set between the teams in West Coast League (WCL) play.

Moses Lake High School alum Drew Martin (2-0) pitched a complete game shutout, allowing seven hits while striking out six to earn the win.

Martin’s ERA is now 1.17 as he has slowly become one of the Pirates’ (5-8 overall, 4-6 WCL) aces.

“That was quality,” Pirates’ coach Steve Keller said. “If he threw a bad pitch he didn’t throw two in a row. His misses were down in the zone which means he is in control of his pitches. He has been as consistent as anyone in the league. He was pretty dang good.”

Martin didn’t mind the offensive output by his team’s bats after his first two outings were lacking this type of run support.

“I feel good and I feel like I’ve been able to throw more strikes and get some the batters out,” Martin said. “We have a good defense and things have been working. Run support is always good and seeing that we scored right away was like a cushion. When we go up five, six, seven, zero, it is always a plus.”

After struggling offensively in their first two league series in Moses Lake — scoring just over two runs a game — the Pirates went to Bend this past weekend and even though they lost two of three, they did get runners home, scoring 17 runs for a 5.67 average.

Coming back to Larson Field, the Pirates showed they had learned their lessons.

“It was good and the guys had quality approaches,” Keller said. “Our guys weren’t chasing pitches and were pretty locked in. It was good to see our hitting carry over and for the people of Moses Lake to see they did a good job this week.”

In the first inning, Nick Frederick (Pomona College) singled in Duncan Blades (Salt Lake CC), who got on three batters earlier after striking out but taking advantage of a third strike wild pitch, for a 1-0 lead.

Then in the bottom of the fourth inning they doubled their lead when Frederick doubled and scored on a two-out, Trent Johnson (University of Utah) double.

Frederick, who finished 3-for-4 with four RBI, highlighted his solid evening, with a two-out double that cleared the bases, as the Pirates took advantage of a bases loaded scenario which provided them with a 5-0 lead.

The Pirates scored five runs with two outs to continue a recent and vital trend.

“It just takes confidence when you look at the scoreboard and not the situation,” Keller said. “We talk about getting quality hits with guys in scoring position. Instead of saying it’s two outs and if I’m out we’re out of the hitting we’re getting quality at bats.”

“You get one break and hit parades can happens.”

The Pirates scored their final two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning when Johnson came home on a wild pitch to Tylor Pavel (Wenatchee Valley College) after singling three batters earlier.

Josh Rapacz (George Fox University) came across for the final Pirates’ run on a wild pitch to Nate Roberts (Seattle University).

Johnson finished 2-for-4 to bump his batting average to .444.

NOTES: Tonight the Pirates will host Corvallis starting at 7:35 p.m. at Larson Field. It will be “80s Night” at Larson, so fans can break out their leg warmers, big hair and their Miami Vice jackets, as they celebrate the decade...Last night 547 fans were in attendance to welcome back the Pirates from their trip to Oregon.