PORT ANGELES — Offensive production for Wilder Baseball has been feast or famine through the first two games of the 17th annual Dick Brown Memorial Firecracker Classic.
Wilder opened the tournament with a 2-1 win in eight innings against Lakeside Recovery on Thursday and then battered an overmatched KWRL Centerfield 16-5 at Civic Field on Friday.
Wilder totaled 20 hits in the win over Centerfield of Clark County, pushing three runs across in both the first and second innings for an early 6-1 lead against pitcher Tyler Bowlin.
Bowlin had a tendency to leave pitches high and out over the plate in the early going, and Wilder quickly turned the contest into what amounted to an umpired batting practice.
“It was good to see the bats open up a little bit,” Wilder manager Mike Politika said.
“They gave us some pitches we could hit and we handled it.”
Wilder opened the scoring when left-hander Evan Hurn sent a high fastball to right field for an RBI single that scored Brady Konopaski.
The ball was misplayed in the outfield, allowing Zach Withrow, who reached base earlier on a hard shot up the middle, to score.
Tanner Gochnour then roped a single to left to score Hurn.
Wilder starting pitcher Janson Pederson struggled at the beginning of the game, allowing singles to Centerfield’s first two batters, and an RBI groundout that scored Hunter Raney and cut the lead to 3-1.
Pederson allowed one more single in the inning but survived with no further damage on the scoreboard.
Pederson then settled down and earned the win, holding Centerfield to three runs on five hits with two walks, two hit batters and four strikeouts in six innings pitched.
“Janson started a little slow, but he got into a groove there and started hitting his spots,” Politika said.
“He was able to get his breaking ball over for strikes, which was big for him.”
In the second inning, Withrow added a well-placed double to the gap in right-center field to score two runs, and Eathen Boyer followed with a moon shot of a two-run double to the base of the wall in left field.
Boyer was 4 for 6 at the plate with three RBIs, and Withrow finished the game 3 for 6 with two doubles and an RBI.
“It was good to see our guys get some good at-bats and some barrel balls, and allow us to score some runs,” Politika said.
Wilder added two more runs in the fourth, one on an RBI single from Gochnour, who finished with four base hits and two RBIs.
The other run came on a RBI single from Travis Paynter up the middle and just beyond the reach of diving Centerfield shortstop Drake Estes.
Dusty Bates added an RBI double to the gap in right-center in the fifth to score Konopaski, who reached base when he was plunked by a pitch for the third time in the game.
“Konopaski had a good game today,” Politika said.
“He was kind of the spark plug for our offense by taking those pitches. And it was good to see him getting the bat turned around.”
Konopaski added two singles and an RBI.
Pederson got some help from his defense, including two solid plays from catcher Ricky Crawford.
Pederson uncorked a wild pitch in the second inning that bounced hard off the backstop and caromed back to a scrambling Crawford.
Crawford fielded the ball cleanly and gunned out Centerfield’s Matt Baher who had bolted for third base.
Two innings later, Crawford ran down a bunt along the third base line and made a tough throw across his body back to first base for the out.
“He’s been lights out back there,” Politika said of Crawford.
“Ricky has really taken his game to the next level behind the plate and he’s keeping it close with his defense.”
Wilder added five more runs while batting around the order in the seventh inning to close out the scoring.
Extra-innings win
Wilder and Lakeside Recovery each scored unearned runs and nothing more and the game went to extra innings tied at 1-1.
Crawford was hit by a pitch to open the eighth and moved to third base when Konopaski bunted and the throw to first resulted in an error.
Lakeside, made up of players from the Issaquah area, intentionally walked Dusty Bates to load the bases, and Evan Hurn made them pay, ending the game with a walk-off sacrifice fly.
Politika said Wilder starter Travis Paynter was the difference in the game.
“Travis was lights out,” Politika said. “He shut them down and was in prime form.
“He went the full eight innings, [threw] 95 pitches, had six strikeouts.
“He was a horse.”
Wilder will play today at Civic Field in either the 6 p.m. championship game or the third-place game at 3 p.m.
Friday’s Game
Wilder 16, Centerfield 5
Wilder 3 3 0 2 3 0 5 — 16 20 2
Centerfield 1 0 0 1 1 0 2 — 5 8 5
WP- Pederson; LP- Bowlin
Pitching Statistics
Wilder: Pederson 6 IP, 5 H,2 BB. 2 HBP, 3 R, 4 K; Konopaski IP, 3 H, 2 ER.
Centerfield: Bowlin 3 2/3 IP, 11 H, 8 R, BB; Baher 1 1/3 IP, 3 R, 3 H; 2 BB, K; Brown 1 2/3 IP, 5 R, 6 H, BB, 2 K.
Hitting Statistics
Wilder: Boyer 4-6, 2B, 3 RBI; Withrow 3-6, 2 2B, RBI; Gochnour 4-5, 2 RBI; Paynter 2-4, BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Hurn 1-2, BB, HBP, 3 RBI; Konopaski 2-3, RBI, 3 HBP, SB.
Centerfield: Bowlin 3-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-452-2345, ext. 5250 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
