Moses Lake offense remains inconsistent

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake High School’s baseball team will have to wait another day to secure its first win of the season after dropping a two-game set to visiting Graham/Kapowsin this weekend.

On Friday the Chiefs fell 8-6 and then followed up that loss with a 5-1 defeat on Saturday at Larson Field.

In the first contest, G/K built up a 7-1 lead after four innings before holding off a late Chiefs rally.

“I like the performance on Friday since we battled back after being down 7-1,” Moses Lake coach Ed McNamara said. “I put some guys in that came through and had big hits in big situations. They didn’t lay back and feel sorry for themselves.”

Brett Lopez went 1-for-1 with two RBIs and Tony Hernandez drove in a run while going 1-for-2.

In the Saturday loss, G/K ran out to a 4-0 lead by the bottom of the second inning and were able to thwart any Moses Lake (0-4) comeback attempt by keeping the Chiefs’ batters at bay.

Dylan Signorelli went 1-for-2 with two stolen bases while Lopez went 2-for-2.

“We gave up too many walks and we weren’t getting the job offensively there,”  McNamara said. “We’ve been on them to be more aggressive and it really surprised me that guys weren’t getting ready to hit the ball.”

Moses Lake also needs to fix some of their issues on defense.

“We are making mistakes in the field we shouldn’t be making with the veteran defenders we have,” McNamara said. “The guys are better than that and should be playing to their potential. Our pitching was much improved but its the defense we need to work on.”

Warden 9-5, Highland 5-2

HIGHLAND — Warden remained undefeated in this young season with a sweep of a doubleheader at Highland on Saturday.

The Cougars (4-0) took the opener 9-5 and then completed the two-game set with a 5-2 win in the nightcap.

Warden used two three-run innings in the third and the sixth to hold off Highland in the opener.

Ty Jesse went 3-for-5 with two triples and a double, Jon Burkholder finished 2-for-4, Cruz Pruneda went 2-for-4, Anthony Plata 2-for-3, and Jacob Yamane was 2-for-4 to lead the Warden offense.

Marcello Pruneda recorded the win from the mound and Manuel Amezola picked up the save.

“It took us a little bit to get going and hit the ball a little bit,” Warden coach Dan Cabellero said. “Maybe it was the long trip or staying up late the night before but it definitely took a while to get going.”

In game two, Arty Reyes homered and was the winning pitcher as the Cougars scored one run in each of the last three innings to pull away after the game was tied 2-2 after the third.

Derek Pruneda was 2-for-4, Cruz Pruneda finished 2-for-4, and Yamane went 2-for-3 to back up Reyes’ pitching effort.

Amezola pitched the final two innings to nab his second save on the day.

East Valley 16-8, Ephrata 7-4

EPHRATA — A strong swinging East Valley squad came into Ephrata on Saturday and proved who had the early leg up in Central Washington Athletic Conference (CWAC) play.

East Valley swept the two-game set 16-7, 8-4 over the young Tigers squad.

East Valley used a five-run first and a four-run third inning in the opener to pull away from the Tigers while a three-run fourth inning gave them a big enough cushion in the nightcap to seal the sweep.

East Valley recorded 25 hits over the two games.

Bryce Todd went 6-for-8 over the two games including one triple and one double and five stolen bases, and Clayton Brock was 4-for-6 with one double for the Tigers (0-3).

“We gave up a lot of extra outs by not playing good defense,” Ephrata coach Jason Laugen said. “We shored up our defense in the second game so there was some improvement. We need to get better there and not give up so many runs since we can put runs on the board.”

Quincy 1-14, Prosser 15-13

PROSSER — Fireworks came early this season at Prosser High School as they split a free-swinging, high-scoring doubleheader with the Quincy Jacks on Saturday.

Quincy rode the four-hit, four-RBI performance of Brett Peterson in the second game to hold in for a 14-13 eight-inning victory.

The win came after the Jacks were trounced 15-1 in the first game of the day.

Quincy recorded 19 hits in the second contest, including a 4-for-5 day from Jackson Hodges and 3-for-6 performance by Craig Omlin.

Quincy (1-2) led 9-0 after three innings before Prosser made a furious comeback to tie it a 13 in their half of the seventh inning, setting the stage for Peterson’s heroics.

Cle Elum 13-11, Royal 1-6

ROYAL — Royal’s pitching and defense was not at its best as the Knight were swept at Cle Elum on Saturday.

Royal dropped the opener of the doubleheader 13-1, before making it close in the second game, losing 11-6.

Cle Elum’s Seth Darling had three home runs over the two games as Royal (0-2) racked up 24 runs on 20 hits and capitalized on six Knights’ errors.