PORT ANGELES — Wilder Baseball Club is putting in the work, as evidenced by crafty pitching, solid hitting and nifty nabs on defense.
It’s the return on that investment that’s been hard to come by so far this summer for the area Senior Babe Ruth team.
Host Wilder split a Firecracker Classic doubleheader Saturday night at Civic Field, knocking off North Kitsap AAA 5-3 before falling 5-2 to Renegades (Port Orchard).
“They aren’t getting rewarded for their efforts and that’s the tough part,” Wilder coach Mike Politika said.
“We are playing some solid teams, too. We aren’t playing crummy teams. We are just having a run of bad luck and I hope that changes soon.”
The loss to the Renegades cost a Wilder a shot at playing in the tournament championship game.
Instead, Wilder had to settle for a third-place game against Lakeside Recovery late Sunday.
Against North Kitsap AAA, Wilder starting pitcher Curan Bradley settled down and produced a strong performance after allowing a pair of runs in the first inning.
Bradley gave up two of the three hits against him in that first frame, a pair of sharp singles by Tyler Meek and Olympic League 2A MVP Kole Milyard.
The lefty struck out nine and walked seven to earn the complete-game victory.
“Curan is a competitor,” Politika said.
“He comes out every time and fights and battles and makes the pitches when he needs to make them. He’s a gamer.”
Wilder answered back with two runs of its own in the bottom of the second.
Matt Hendry opened the inning by hitting a hard shot through the legs of the North Kitsap shortstop.
James Grubb followed up with a base hit to right field that was misplayed, resulting in Hendry scooting home to score.
Travis Paynter’s deep sacrifice fly to right-center field tied the score at 2-all.
Hendry and Grubb got things going again for Wilder in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Hendry hit a seeing-eye single between the North Kitsap third baseman and shortstop to start the inning.
Grubb came through with a deep drive to the right-center gap that had triple written all over it.
But the ball rolled underneath the temporary outfield fence for a ground-rule double.
No matter.
Grubb later scored when Paynter, who had reached base on an infield single, stole second base.
Grubb waited for the catcher’s throw and broke for home to give Wilder a 4-2 lead.
Wilder added an insurance run in the fifth inning on a Hendry sacrifice fly after North Kitsap walked the bases loaded.
“He’s kind of taken on that role of being the production guy,” Politika said of Hendry.
“And he and James were really able to get us rolling in a couple of innings.”
Ben Basden also provided some defensive wizardy for Wilder at second base.
He raced to his right and robbed Meek of a base hit on a hard-hit liner in shallow right-center field in the fifth inning.
Basden completed the catch by somersaulting to his feet.
“That was probably the defensive play of the game, for sure,” Politika said.
Wilder stranded 10 base runners in the loss to Renegades in the evening’s nightcap.
That includes two bases-loaded situations — one in the bottom of the second with the game tied 0-0 and the other in the bottom of the sixth while trailing 5-2.
Renegades featured numerous players from the South Kitsap High School varsity, a program one season removed from a Class 4A state championship.
Two of those players, Austin Hackman and Jack Oswood combined to get after Wilder starter Travis Paynter in the top of the fourth.
Hackman singled to right field and motored home when Oswood smoked a double to the gap in left-center.
Wilder answered in its half of the inning when Hendry led off with a single, followed by another base hit by Tanner Gochnour.
Gochnour stole second and Hendry tried to break for home but was called out on a collision at the plate.
Gochnour later scored on a fielders choice by Janson Pederson to tie the game at 1-1.
Renegades did more damage in the top of the fifth.
Nathaniel Rowan, another South Kitsap player, fought off an inside pitch to single to left field.
Connor Bassett followed with a bloop single to right field that misplayed by Tanner Rhodefer.
Charlie Ihlen then rapped a two-run single up the middle for a 3-1 Renegades lead.
Later in the inning Connor Seaton laced a two-out double to the 355-feet mark on the fence in left-center to score Ihlen and put Renegades up for good.
“I thought Travis pitched well,” Politika said.
“At times he throws too many strikes, if that makes sense.
“He had good velocity and good command with his off-speed pitches, he just ran into a couple of situations where he missed on a couple spots and they hit the ball and hit it hard.”
Wilder threatened in the sixth, working the bases loaded on walks by Grubb and Hendry and a bloop single by Gochnour, but could only manage one run on a bases-loaded walk to Pederson.
“Obviously it’s disappointing to lose, we have higher expectations than to just play well. We want to win,” Politika said.
“But they have a lot of heart, they are playing the game the right way and I’m proud of the kids.”
Renegades 5, Wilder 2
Renegades 0 0 0 1 3 1 0 — 5 10 0
Wilder 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 — 2 7 3
WP- Dahlke; LP- Paynter
Pitching Statistics
Renegades: Dahlke 7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 6 BB, 3 K.
Wilder: Paynter 7 IP, 10 H, 5 R, BB, 7 K
Hitting Statistics
Renegades: Oswood 2-3, 2B, RBI; Ihlen 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI;Low 1-3, 2B, R.
Wilder: Hendry 1-2, BB; Pederson 1-2, BB, FC, 2 RBI; Gochnour 2-3, R; Grubb 0-2, BB, R.
Wilder 5, North Kitsap AAA 3
North Kitsap 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 —3 8 2
Wilder 0 2 0 2 1 0 x — 5 8 2
WP- Bradley ; LP- Schmidt
Pitching Statistics
North Kitsap: Schmidt 3 2/3 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 0 BB, 0 K; Sanchez 1/3 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 3 BB, HB; Denney 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, BB, K.
Wilder: Bradley 7 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 7 BB, 9 K.
Hitting Statistics
North Kitsap: Milyard 2-3, 2 R
Wilder: Grubb 2-3, 2 2B, 2 R, RBI; Hendry 2-2, 2 R, Paynter 1-2, SAC, RBI.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
