River Dogs get Blue Licked 8-6
Columbia Basin River Dogs second baseman Gage Gibson makes the play at first base on a bunt during Monday night’s 8-6 loss to Blue Lick, Ky., during the 16-18 Babe Ruth World Series in Ephrata.
EPHRATA — In the end, the Columbia Basin River Dogs had a chance to pull one out of the fire one more time Monday night at the Senior Babe Ruth World Series at Johnson-O’Brien Stadium.
They kicked it around a little bit, didn’t get particularly good pitching, giving up six runs in the second inning. But in the end, they still had a chance to erase two runs in the seventh inning and make it three in a row.
It didn’t happen, Blue Lick, Ky. held on to win Monday night’s pool play game 8-6, handing the River Dogs their first loss.
“Four of their runs were on walks, so that’s the problem. We didn’t get good pitching,” River Dogs manager Randy Boruff said. “We fell behind six and it’s just tough to get back. We had a chance in the end, but we still had too many errors.”
Both teams threatened early. The River Dogs put their first two runners of the second inning aboard with no outs, but stranded both runners without scoring. But the real damage came in the bottom half of the second when Blue Lick scored six runs on three big hits, including a two-RBI double by Ryan Henson. The Ohio Valley champions chased River Dogs starter Logan Moss, who pitched 1 2/3 innings, giving up four runs, while scattering two hits. Blake Vandel, a right-hander from Leavenworth, came in and finished the game.
To their credit, the defending World Series champion River Dogs chipped away with two in the third, one in the fifth and three in the top of the sixth.
Justin DeHoog of Ephrata lofted a sacrifice fly to center field to drive in a run in the third when Blake Vandel and Glenn Gosse scored to give Columbia Basin a flicker of hope. They made it a 6-3 game with a single run in the fifth. But the real telling blow came when Blue Lick took advantage of a River Dog error in the fifth and scored two runs on a Evan Mooney two-RBI double to make it 8-3.
“We made some critical errors that didn’t help anything,” Boruff said.
DeHoot reached on an error to start the sixth. Mitch Bossel also reached to give the River Dogs runners on first and second with no outs. But Blue Lick right-hander Garrett Wilson knuckled down, striking out the next two batters.
Nick Lopez drove in two runs with a single and Vandel drove in another to get the River Dogs to within two runs, but that was how it ended.
The River Dogs are back on the diamond Wednesday night in the 8 p.m. game.