Walleyes end drought with big win over Ellensburg
Walleye base runner Colton Minoletti slides under the tag of Ellensburg catcher Major Moffat to score during the first game of Wednesday’s doubleheader at Larson Playfield.
Walleye center fielder Armando DeLeon takes a swing during Wednesday night’s doubleheader with Ellensburg. The Walleyes won 4-3.
MOSES LAKE — Sometimes you just get sick of losing and the Moses Lake Walleyes decided it was time to do something about it.
Blake Pugh drove a waste-high fastball into right-center field for a walk-off single and the Walleyes won their second game of the season with a 4-3 victory over Ellensburg in the first game of Wednesday’s doubleheader at Larson Playfield.
It’s been a painful learning curve for the Walleyes (2-16), but all that was forgotten when Blake Sidwell beat the throw to the plate for the game-winning run.
“We’ve been talking about little things all year. Little things are going to keep us in ballgames. Little things are going to help us win ballgames. That seventh inning was key,” head coach Robert Haensel said. “Sidwell leads off with a walk. (Zack) Valdez has a textbook bunt to move him over and Pugh ends up with the game-winning hit. That’s a beautiful thing.”
The Walleyes showed a little moxie with some fundamental baseball in the seventh inning. Pugh’s at-bat was test of patience against Ellensburg reliever Gage Gibson.
“I wanted to see a pitch to get my timing down a little bit to see what he had. That was the first time I’ve faced that pitcher,” said Pugh, who went 2-for-4 with an RBI. “He threw me the first one a little low to get me to go fishing. That second pitch came in higher and I drove it. We made a lot of errors early, but we stayed with it and it feels good to win.”
Colton Minoletti drove in Valdez to tie it 3-3 in the bottom half of the fourth. The Walleye third baseman also had a double and scored a run.
“You have to stay up, because sooner or later you’re going to get sick of losing,” said Minoletti, who was 2-2 on the day. “We’ve been picking each other up and getting back to just playing ball. This feels good, especially coming back from all those loses, finally getting a win. This win is the start of something good.”
Moses Lake started off playing a little kick ball with three errors in the first two innings. Ellensburg jumped out to a 3-0 lead with the game on cruise control. But the Walleyes stayed with it, scoring two runs in the third. Tyler Pagliarulo drove in a run and scored on an RBI-single by Ezekyel Ochoa. They tied it an inning later on the Minoletti RBI.
“We’ve worked hard all year at not hanging our heads,” Haensel said. “We try to keep things in perspective and just try to play well. If we play well, we’ll be OK.”
Ellensburg 5, Walleyes 4
The River Dogs cut the deficit to one run, but just couldn't push across the tying run, falling in the nightcap to close out the first half of the season.
"I think we've finally turned the corner and are starting to show what kind of Walleye team we really are," Haensel said. "This has been a very close series this first half and we really are starting to play much better. I think it will carry over in the second half. We still have 20 games left."