Moses Lake drops game to Clifton Park
The Moses Lake 14-year-old Chiefs huddle after their 4-3 loss to Clifton Park, N.Y. Tuesday night.
MOSES LAKE - The Moses Lake 14-year-old Chiefs dropped to 1-2 in pool play after losing to Clifton Park, N.Y. Tuesday night at the Babe Ruth World Series.
The loss moves Moses Lake into a tie for third place in the National Division with Jasper, Ind.
Clifton Parked jumped out early 1-0 after Ian Anderson scored on a fielder's choice. RBI singles by Michael Spulnick, Michael Jeffers and Nikolas Malachowski in the third inning increased Clifton Park's lead to 4-0.
Moses Lake responded in the bottom half of the third scoring 2 runs when Carter Stout scored on a fielder's choice and Cain Valdez scored on an error.
With Seth Alvarado struggling to find the strike zone, Doumit decided to bring in left-hander Dylan Hooper.
Despite seemingly having runners in scoring position his entire relief appearance, Hooper allowed no runs and gave the Chiefs a chance to tie the game late.
"I felt that I wanted to try to change a little bit of the pace and the look," Doumit said. "His left-handed... coming in he throws a lot slower, a lot more breaking pitches and I think it was effective."
The Chiefs were resilient in defeat, but couldn't rally one final time to tie the game and take the lead.
Moses Lake was unable to take advantage of loaded bases in the fourth and stranded three runners. Hooper was also stranded in the bottom of the sixth.
Cade Tunstall led off the bottom of the seventh with a single, but was thrown out attempting to advance to third after a bunt attempt.
"I will never fault the kid for making an aggressive mistake," Doumit said. "That was a 50-50 shot."
With Moses Lake's best opportunity to tie the game gone Seth Alvarado struck out swinging.
Moses Lake plays the final game of pool play tonight against Jasper at 8 p.m. for a trip to the elimination round.
"It's for the marbles tomorrow," Doumit said. "Whoever's 2-2 will be that team to advance to the quarterfinals."
Other results:
Tualatin Hills, Ore. 9 - Longwood, Fla. 8
Tualatin Hills was able to come back after trailing 4-6 after the first inning to beat Longwood. Tualatin Hills tied the game at 6 in the second inning after Casey McGough stole home and Keegan Huey scored on an error. The team scored 1 run each in the third, fourth and fifth inning to secure the win.
Kyle Thompson led the way for Tualatin Hills with 2 hits and 2 RBIs.
Bryant, Ark. 21 - Baxter Springs, Kan. 4
Bryant exploded for 13 runs in the fifth inning and caused their game against Baxter Springs to end after five innings.
Garrett Misenheimer's big day propelled Bryant to their second win at the World Series. Misenheimer finished with 3 hits, 3 runs and 4 RBIs.
Puget Sound, Wash. 7 - Manchester, N.H. 4
Puget sound used a 6-run fifth inning to beat Manchester.
The game was knotted at 1-1 until the Pacific Northwest Regional Champions' offense ignited. RBI singles by Marcus McCannel and Nathan Fitzpatrick helped break the game open for Puget Sound.
Ben Smith also added a 2-run single in the fifth. The win was Puget Sound's first of the tournament.