Walleyes win one, lose one

KENNEWICK - The Walleyes hit the road to Kennewick for nonleague doubleheader action Tuesday, and came away with a split with the Dusters that saw a total of 46 runs cross the plate between the teams.

The Walleyes took the opening game 14-3, but came up short in a comeback bid in the nightcap, 17-12.

"We always see good competition when we play Kennewick," coach Quintz Whitaker said. "I would have liked to have won both games, but we feel behind 11-0 in the first inning of the second game after giving up six errors and weren't able to complete the comeback."

Walleyes 14

Dusters 3

The Walleyes jumped out to a 2-0 lead after two and a half innings of play. Kennewick answered back with two in the bottom of the third to even things up, 2-2.

The Walleyes regained the lead with two runs in the top of the fourth, and never looked back, adding one in the fifth and nine in the sixth to blow the contest wide open. The Dusters got one back in the bottom of the sixth to close out the scoring for the game.

Leading the offensive attack for the Walleyes were Carson Fisk, who went two-for-two at the plate with a double and three runs scored, and Spencer Vela who finished with two hits in three at bats with a triple, two RBI and two runs scored.

Jared Haddican went the distance on the hill, giving up three runs (two earned), off seven hits to record the win.

Dusters 17

Walleyes 12

The second game of the twin bill was a wild and crazy contest that produced 29 runs. The Walleyes dug themselves a huge hole early, falling behind 11-0 after the first inning of play as the team committed six fielding errors.

The Walleyes, refusing to go away quietly, battled back with four runs in the second, two in the third, and four in the fifth to get within a run, 11-10. But that was as close as they would get, dropping the game by five runs.

Adrian Hernandez got the start for the Walleyes, but was pulled from the game in the middle of the first inning and was tagged with the loss. Blake Springer pitched four innings of relief. Carson Fisk closed out the final two.

"I am happy to see the kids swinging the bats well," Whitaker said. "But we need to shore up our defense and stop making so many errors."

The Walleyes are back on the diamond when they host the Ed Mac Memorial Tournament at Moses Lake High School this weekend.

Their first game is against Ferris High School Friday at 3:30 p.m. They play Lakeside out of Bellevue at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, then take on Stanwood at 1:30 in the afternoon.

The team is scheduled to play on Sunday too, but won't know who'll they will face until the games on Saturday are concluded.

The Walleyes are in Wenatchee for a four-day tournament next week, then get back to league play when they host Eastmont in doubleheader action July 1 at Larson Field.