CLACKAMAS, Ore. — Wilder Baseball Club is in good shape in its bid to repeat as champions at the Clackamas Diamond Classic.
The lone Washington state squad competing in the Oregon tournament, Wilder will face Tualatin, Ore. today at 3 p.m. in a tournament semifinal.
Perth Black, the Australian squad that topped Wilder and went on to win Wilders’ Firecracker Classic last week, is in the other semifinal, so a potential rematch could occur in the championship game.
The area squad lost a 5-3 contest essentially for pride against Clackamas on Saturday to wrap pool play with a 2-1 record.
“Our [semifinal] seed was locked up [Friday],” Wilder head coach Karl Myers said.
Ethan Flodstrom bashed a 3-run home run in Wilders’ final turn at-bat in Saturday’s game, but Wilder couldn’t make up the rest of the deficit.
“It was a shot,” Myers said of Flodstrom’s home run. It cleared the scoreboard. He hit it well, but it was too little too late to wait until the seventh inning. They kept fighting, but we need to get going a little earlier.”
Wilder advanced to the semifinals by taking care of business at the plate and on the mound in an 11-3 win over Oregon City and a 9-3 triumph over Sherwood on Thursday and Friday, respectively, to win its pool.
“We definitely swung [the bat] well in the first game,” Myers said.
“Lucas [Jarnagin] hit a bomb and we just had a lot of very aggressive swings to pitches around the zone. It was early and often. We put lots of pressure on them.”
Flodstrom had three hits, including a double and a triple and drove in three runs.
Wilder took a little more time to find its footing offensively against Sherwood, but plated four runs in the fourth and five more in the fifth in the victory.
“A slower start to that game, but once we got into an aggressive mindset at the plate we found some barrels and moved guys around in that fourth inning,” Myers said.
Bo Bradow drove in three runs, Milo Whitman tripled and drove in a pair of runs and Timmy Adams doubled and drove in two more for Wilder.
And the Wilder pitching staff has done its job thus far.
“Our pitching has been solid, we kind of staffed the first game to keep guys available for later on,” Myers said.
Hayden Woods struck out five in three innings of work against Oregon City and Seth Scofield and Carson also saw time on the mound.
Woods will get the ball to open today’s semifinal, Myers said.
Brody Merritt struck out seven in six innings of work against Sherwood, with Tyler Bowen coming on to strike out two in one inning to finish the job.
“Brody went the distance basically, and Tyler closed it and shoved it. That kept [Brody] available to throw Wednesday in one of our final [American Legion] league games against Bellingham.”
Clackamas 5, Wilder 3
Clack. 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 — 5 7 1
Wilder 0 0 0 0 0 0 3— 3 7 2
LP: Seibel
Pitching
Wilder — Seibel 5IP, 5H 5ER, 4BB, 4K; Ness 2IP, 2H, ER, 2BB, 2K.
Hitting
Wilder — Flodstrom 1-3, HR, R, 3RBI; Wood 2-4, R; Bowen 1-1; Basden 1-3, R.
Wilder 9, Sherwood 3
Sher. 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 — 3 8 2
Wilder 0 0 0 4 5 0 X — 9 8 0
WP: Meritt
Pitching
Wilder — Merritt 6IP, 8H, 3ER, 2BB, 7K; Bowen IP, 2K.
Hitting
Wilder — Bradow 1-2, BB, R, 3RBI; Guerrero 1-4, R, 2RBI; Adams 1-3, 2B, 2RBI; Whitman 1-2, BB, R, 3B, 2RBI; Hall 1-3, 2R; Woods 1-1, 2R.
Wilder 11, Oregon City 3
Wilder 2 0 6 0 1 0 2 — 11 17 2
Oregon 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 3 5 3
WP: Scofield
Pitching
Wilder — Woods 3IP, 2H, R, BB, 5K; Scofield 3IP, 3H, 2R, ER, 2BB, K; Ness IP.
Hitting
Wilder — Wood 3-4, 2B, 2R,; Flodstrom 3-4, 2B, 3B, 2R, 3RBI; Jarnagin 2-4, HR, R, 2RBI; Guerrero 2-3, 2B, 2R; Bowen 2-3, RBI; Adams 2-2, RBI.
