Vikings swept by Blue Mountain
Big Bend dropped both of its outings against Blue Mountain CC over the weekend, falling 7-2 before suffering a 6-5 loss.
COURTESY PHOTO/BBCC ATHLETICS
MOSES LAKE — Coming off dropping two games to Blue Mountain CC earlier in the week, the Big Bend Vikings traveled to face the Timberwolves in a doubleheader Saturday, losing both games by scores of 7-2 and 6-5.
The first game was scoreless until the bottom of the third inning when Blue Mountain got two runners across home plate on a Big Bend balk and an error three at-bats later. Big Bend got on the board in the top of the sixth with back-to-back sacrifice flies by center fielder Roman Basurto and right fielder Ryley Doig, but an additional four runs by the Timberwolves over the seventh and eighth innings were too much to overcome.
Second baseman Rory Swanson led the Vikings with two hits in the game-one loss to the Timberwolves, while third baseman Kyler Nilson, shortstop Tyson Laugen and catcher Kyle Belich all recorded one hit each.
Catcher Blaine Macdonald opened up scoring in the top of the first inning of the nightcap, delivering an RBI single that sent home left fielder Gunner Graves for a 1-0 lead; Big Bend extended its lead in the next at-bat when first baseman JT Penrod sent Macdonald home on an RBI single for a 2-0 lead.
The lead was short-lived, however, as Blue Mountain scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning — Viking starting pitcher Brett Nemechek was pulled after two outs, surrendering three hits, two walks and four earned runs.
After Blue Mountain added another run in the bottom of the fifth inning, a three-run top of the eighth tied the ballgame up at five; Big Bend right fielder Davis Chakos delivered a two-RBI triple to cut the lead to one, then scored on a wild pitch during the next at-bat.
It took extra innings to decide the winner, with Blue Mountian winning on a walk-off hit by Evan Grant — his third hit of the game, which led both teams.
Left fielder Jak McLellan, Chakos, Macdonald and Penrod all tied for a team-high in hits (one), while Chakos led the Vikings with two RBI in the loss.
With the losses, Big Bend fell to 9-17 this spring.
"It comes down to execution, in all aspects of the game we need to be better,” Big Bend head coach Chase Tunstall said in a release. “Offensively, defensively, on the base paths. We have to be better. We give other teams far too many free outs and make it an uphill battle for ourselves. We've got Wenatchee Valley next who is playing good baseball so we have to find a way to clean our game up for us to have a chance of making up some ground"