Tunstall shuts down Gonzaga Prep in Spuds opener at tournament
MISSOULA, Mont. — Cade Tunstall threw a complete game, shutout for Central Washington and the Spuds blanked Gonzaga Prep 2-0 in the first game of the Missoula Mavericks Memorial Tournament on Thursday.
It was a solid effort on the mound, backed with productive hitting in the sixth where the Spuds picked up the two runs that put them over top against a quality Gonzaga program.
“It was all about pitching today, Cade had great command today and scattered five hits,” Spuds manager Robert Haensel said. “He got out of a couple of bases-loaded jams and pitched his way out of it with a couple of key strikeouts. He’s got a little cut fastball that he throws to set things up. But he also had command of strike zone and got a lot of ground balls.”
Central Washington (4-5) was productive with its opportunities, scoring twice in the sixth with just two hits. Ezekyel Ochoa of Moses Lake doubled and scored on an RBI single by Austin Valdez. Valdez scored the insurance run and that was all it took with Tunstall in command on the mound.
“We feel pretty good. Gonzaga Prep is always a tough competitor,” Haensel said. “To get them in the first game of the tournament was important. We’ve been a little up-and-down this season. We started off fairly hot with three wins, then struggled a little bit. So this was a good win to start things off.”
The Missoula Mavericks Memorial is a Senior Legion AAA tournament featuring six teams from four different states, including Gonzaga Prep, Bellevue Honda, Lewis-Clark (Idaho), La Grande (Ore.) and Missoula (Mont.) Mavericks.
“We face Bellevue tomorrow, I don’t know much about them,” Haensel said. “But the team out of La Grande, Ore., was the Oregon 4A state champions. Lewis-Clark from Lewiston, Idaho is always good, and of course the host Mavericks are solid.
“It’s a pretty good lineup and the area is a hotbed for baseball. They don’t play high school baseball here, so they’ve got 80 games on their schedule for the summer. So it’s good competition.”
The Spuds face Bellevue Honda on Friday at 1 p.m. Mountain time.