Moss goes the distance, Ephrata beats Quincy in district opener 4-2

EPHRATA — With two arms ready in the bullpen, Ephrata head coach Jason Laugen had a decision to make: stick with his starter Logan Moss for the final inning or bring in a reliever?

After giving up two runs to Quincy in the sixth while at times struggling with control, Moss returned to the mound in the seventh and finished what he started.

By striking out the side.

The final punch-out was on a high fast ball that Quincy’s Kaeden Murphy couldn’t catch up to and Ephrata advanced in the CWAC district tournament 4-2.

“I just bared down, did my best and got the job done,” Moss said.

Moss pitched five straight scoreless innings and allowed just one hit through four, finishing with seven strikeouts.

The shutout was broken up in the sixth inning when Quincy was able to load the bases and a fielder’s choice by Joel Villafana coupled with a throwing error scored two.

But that was all the Jacks could muster, stranding Doug Tobin on second base in the seventh with the game-tying run at home plate

“He’s (Moss) a really good pitcher in this league and has pretty good velocity and a nice break on his curve ball to keep you off balance a little bit,” Quincy head coach Andy Harris said. “I thought we hit him well. I thought we had some chances there especially there at the end. I thought there’s some times where we got a couple hard hits in the beginning of the game that were just right at guys and so it was tough.

“He’s a tough guy. If you don’t jump on him he’ll settle in and he settled in there for a few innings and then he came out in the seventh and struck three guys out. That’s impressive.”

Moss was able to work with a lead for the majority of the game as the first of Quincy’s three errors allowed Zac Berryman an at bat that finished with a towering two-run double to left center field.

“We knew that if we scored early on them and got a decent lead that they were going to be a little bit difficult for them to come back mentally,” Laugen said. “The error that took place to allow Berryman to come up and hit the double, that was a big boost for us and then the double takes place and we score a guy from first base. It was a great opportunity for us.”

An otherwise typical high school baseball playoff game took a confusing turn on a play at third base during the third inning.

Quincy catcher Cody Kehl threw down in an attempt to tag out Ephrata’s Ethan Etter. The tag was placed, however, Tobin — the starting pitcher — was too close to the rubber, resulting in a balk. Etter was awarded home plate and Quincy’s players, coaches and fans became incensed.

From that point, the Jacks played under protest.

“What we saw is that he (Tobin) was off and far enough away that we could make that play and so that’s why at that point we put the protest in,” Harris said. “We’ll see it through to where it’s at, but give credit to Ephrata. They beat us. I don’t want to hang up on that.”

The Tigers tacked on one more run in the fourth inning when Parker Ball scored on a throwing error.

Ephrata moves on to face league champion Selah Saturday at Carlon Park. Ephrata was one out away from beating Selah on April 16 before a walk-off double ended the upset bid.

“We’ve just got to go down and play our game.” Laugen said. “Selah’s going to try and get into our heads just like Quincy was sitting there yelling constantly in the dugout trying to get into our heads. Selah’s going to do the same thing. They’re going to have a big crowd there doing the same thing and we’ve just got to play our game. We’ve got to stay composed and ready to go.”

East Valley 2, Othello 1

YAKIMA — Othello was eliminated from postseason play after a 2-1 loss at East Valley.

The Red Devils move on to play Ellensburg on Saturday.

Boys golf

Moses Lake takes third at home POD

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake scored 333 and finished third at its home POD at the Moses Lake Country Club.

The Chiefs finished just seven strokes behind first place Eisenhower. Craig Dennis led a consistent Moses Lake squad with a score of 81, placing sixth.

Every golfer scored in the 80s. Trevor West scored 83, Trevor Jones carded 84, Wes Harrington recorded 85, Hunter Hake notched 87 and Carlos Farias totaled 89.

Moses Lake finishes the CBBN schedule May 9 in Yakima.

College baseball

Big Bend swept at Spokane

SPOKANE — Big Bend lost a pair of crucial games at Spokane 16-0 and 8-7.

In the opener, Spokane scored five runs each in the second, third and fourth inning. Big Bend managed just two hits. Former Ellensburg standout Garrett Hull homered for Spokane.

The Vikings led 7-0 after five innings in the nightcap before the Sasquatch rallied for eight unanswered runs.

Justin DeHoog, of Ephrata, had three RBI and a home run for Big Bend (11-11, 22-12).

The losses dropped Big Bend into a tie for fourth place with Walla Walla. The Vikings travel to first place Yakima Valley on Saturday.