River Dogs open weekend with two wins over Pullman
River Dog second baseman Zane Harden sprints to third base during the second game of Friday night’s doubleheader against Pullman. Harden batted in three runs across the two wins.
IAN BIVONA/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
River Dog center fielder Jackson Carlos keeps his eyes locked on the pitcher before diving back to first base on a pickoff attempt.
River Dog catcher Blaine Macdonald leads off of second base during the second game of Friday night’s doubleheader against Pullman.
River Dog left fielder Willem Jansen runs to third base, later scoring on the same play.
EPHRATA – The 18U Columbia Basin River Dogs opened a weekend of games with two wins over the Pullman Patriots on Friday, turning in high-scoring wins of 8-0 and 11-5 on their home field in Ephrata.
“It’s great to come out and get two wins (Friday),” River Dogs co-Head Coach Brock Lybbert said. “We knew that, leading into games against Farmers (Saturday), that this was an opportunity where we could mix in a few guys that haven’t had a lot of opportunities. It was great to get them those opportunities, and some of them took advantage.”
Pitcher Evan Smith got the start on the mound in the first game, pitching a full six innings and surrendering four hits, striking out six batters with only one walk.
“I just felt untouchable,” Smith said. “My stuff was working, and they just weren’t hitting it that good.”
After an RBI by right fielder Peyton Juarez opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning, the River Dogs scored runs in each of the six innings played in the first game. Second baseman Zane Harden, center fielder Adrian Martinez and Alex Roker all batted in runs in the opening win.
“To consistently be able to score runs, manufacture runs and play the game the right way, that was great to see,” Lybbert said. “That was probably what I was most impressed with that first game.”
Harden opened the scoring in the second game with his second RBI of the evening, sending home shortstop Anson Gustafson. Catcher Holden Koziol added two more runs on an RBI single in the bottom of the first inning to give the River Dogs an early 3-0 lead.
“I just went up there confident and saw the ball really well,” Harden said. “Struck it today.”
Pullman scored its first runs of the night on a three-RBI double that tied the game, adding two more runs in the next two at-bats. By the end of the top of the second inning, Pullman had capitalized on River Dog errors to take a 5-3 lead.
Harden cut into the Patriot lead with an RBI double that sent home center fielder Jackson Carlos in the bottom of the second and a bases-loaded walk tied the game at five in the bottom of the third, which sparked a five-run third inning for Columbia Basin
“We talked about how we have to learn how to stop the bleeding, so that’s what I was impressed with in game two,” Lybbert said. “(Pullman) put up a five-spot, we allowed them to have a big inning; didn’t play well in that inning, but then we stopped the bleeding.”
The River Dogs scored 19 runs off of 17 hits in Friday’s wins.
“I think we all swung it really well, so if we carry that into the next game we’ll have a good chance of beating Farmers,” Harden said.
While both the River Dogs and Farmers will both be in attendance at regionals, the winner of Saturday afternoon’s game between the two squads will gain an advantage in regional bracket seeding. Final results from the game were not available in time for press deadline and will be included in the Tuesday edition of the Columbia Basin Herald.
Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.
