CENTRALIA — Strong pitching, solid defending and timely hitting has Wilder Baseball undefeated after its first two games at the 64-team GSL College Showcase.
Wilder opened Pool N play with a 5-3 win against the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) Titans of Woodinville on Wednesday evening and knocked off Yard Baseball Academy 3-1 Thursday.
“We are 2-0 and in the drivers seat,” Wilder coach Mike Politika said.
“We win tomorrow and we win our pool and are in the final 16.”
Wilder plays Bulldog White at 1 p.m. today.
Defeat FCA Titans
Tanner Rhodefer went the distance on the mound in Wednesday’s game, allowing three runs on five hits and six walks, while striking out six.
“He pitched really well,” Wilder coach Mike Politika said.
“He had good command of all his pitches.
“And I think they only barreled one ball, only hit one ball hard, a double.”
Rhodefer also induced 13 ground-ball outs, all cleanly fielded.
“We played really good defense behind him,” Politika said.
Curan Bradley didn’t record a hit, but reached base in all four at-bats, walking three times and driving in the eventual game-winning runs.
“He had a hard-hit shot in the sixth inning and the third baseman had a hard time fielding it,” Politika said.
“It bounced off and went into the outfield and two runs scored.”
Evan Hurn hit an RBI triple to deep center field and scored when the centerfielder mishandled the ball.
“The fields we are playing at dont have a center field fence, but it would have been out at Civic Field,” Politika said.
“Hurn’s really playing well for us, both offensively and defensively.
Squeeze past Academy
Wilder edged Yard Academy of Beaverton, Ore. on a tight play at home plate.
Hurn opened the sixth inning with a double and moved over to third base on a Tanner Gochnour fielders’ choice.
“James Grubb put down a safety squeeze along the first-base line to score Hurn and go up one run in the sixth,” Politika said.
“There was a little bit of controversy that inning. Their pitching coach went out to talk to their guy after Hurn hit the double.
“When he moved over to third their manager went out to talk strategy and didn’t realize the pitching coach had already been out there.”
Rules limit mound visits to one per inning.
“So they had to pull the starter, and he was pretty good,” Politika said.
“He was tough. So they had to pull a guy in off the bench to finish the game, without much warmup.
“Janson Pederson walked and then James dropped the bunt down and Hurn scored.”
Anders Chapman later notched an RBI single to score Pederson for a 3-1 lead.
Travis Paynter went 5 2/3 innings on the mound, allowing one run on four hits and five walks, while striking out eight.
“Travis did great. He was in control the whole game,” Politika said.
“It was typical Travis form, he’s our horse and he went out and dominated.”
Paynter did leave the game with two outs and two runners aboard in the sixth.
But Brady Shimko shut down Yard Academy in relief.
“He got in there with a couple of runners on, struck his guy out to close the inning and went 1-2-3 in the seventh,” Politika said.
“He’s very crafty, he has a different arm spot or release point and it’s tough for hitters to figure out.
“And he has a lot of movement on his pitches. He’s not a side-armer, not a submariner, but his ball moves a lot, he doesn’t throw a straight ball.”
Wilder 5, FCA Titans 3
Wilder 0 0 1 0 2 2 0 — 5 5 0
FCA Titans 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 — 3 5 3
WP- Rhodefer
Pitching Statistics
Wilder: Rhodefer 7 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 6 BB, 6 K
Hitting Statistics
Wilder: Bradley 3 BB, 2 R, 2 RBI, Hurn 2-4, 3B, R, RBI; Grubb 1-2, 2B; Boyer 2-3, R, SB.
Wilder 3, Yard Academy 1
Yard Academy 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 — 1 4 1
Wilder 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 — 3 6 0
WP- Paynter; SV- Shimko
Pitching Statistics
Wilder: Paynter 5 2/3 IP, 1 R, 4 H, 5 BB, 8K; Shimko 1 1/3, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K.
Hitting Statistics
Wilder: Bradley 2-3, 2B; Hendry 1-3; Hurn 1-2, 2B, R, l; Grubb 1-2, R, RBI.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
