EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated to correct Sunday’s schedule in sidebar.
BREMERTON — Wilder Baseball finished off a four-game weekend sweep by beating Northwest Blaze 18U 6-2 and 7-3 at Kitsap County Fairgrounds.
Wilder took two games from the Blaze on Saturday at Civic Field before Sunday’s two road games.
Next up for Wilder is the 17th annual Dick Brown Memorial Firecracker Classic at Civic Field, which opens for the area Senior Babe Ruth team against Lakeside Recovery on Thursday night at 8 p.m. at Civic Field.
In Sunday’s opening game, Wilder starter James Grubb struck out eight and held the Blaze to four hits and two late runs to earn the complete-game victory.
Port Angeles High School graduate Logan Ciaciuch had one of Northwest’s four hits, a double in the first inning.
Wilder’s offense tallied 10 hits, including two apiece from Dusty Bates, Larsson Chapman and Zach Withrow.
Wilder scored one run in the second and one more in the third before putting up five in the fifth to open up a 5-0 lead.
Bates doubled with one out in the top of the fifth and then came around to score when Eathen Boyer reached on an error.
Evan Hurn’s double to right field moved Boyer to third, and Travis Paynter singled to drive in both Boyer and Hurn.
Wilder added a run in the seventh when Chapman singled home Curan Bradley to extend the lead to 6-0.
The Blaze scored two runs with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. They then loaded the bases, but Grubb got Brennan Hansen to ground out to third to end the inning.
Wilder opened the second game with a four-run first inning.
Chapman singled home Brady Konopaski from second base to open the scoring.
A double by Hurn gave Wilder runners and second and third with one out.
Gochnour singled to score Chapman and Hurn and then came around to score to cap the first-inning onslaught.
Wilder wouldn’t score again until the top of the seventh inning.
The Blaze, meanwhile, scored three runs in the third to cut the deficit to 4-3. Ciaciuch’s RBI double brought in Northwest’s third and final run.
In the top of the seventh, Konopaski again started Wilder’s attack, reaching on an error by Blaze first baseman Matt Page and then scoring when Hurn was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Gochnour’s sacrifice fly scored Bates and advanced Ian Quast to third and Hurn to second.
Quast then scored on Boyer’s sacrifice fly, extending Wilder’s lead to 7-3.
Bates pitched a one-two-three bottom of the seventh to end the game.
Curan Bradley started and pitched three innings to earn the win for Wilder. Brady Shimko tossed two innings of relief before Bates took over for the sixth and seventh innings.
The eight-team Firecracker Classic runs from Thursday through Sunday. It begins with a game between Kitsap AAA and the Seattle Titans at 11 a.m. Thursday, and ends with a championship game Sunday at 6 p.m.
First Game
Wilder 6, Blaze 2
Wilder 0 1 0 1 3 0 1 — 6 10 1
Blaze 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 — 2 4 1
WP- Grubb)
Pitching Statistics
Wilder: Grubb 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 5 BB, 8 K.
Hitting Statistics
Wilder: Bates 2-4, 2B, R; Chapman 2-4, RBI; Withrow 2-3, SB; Paynter 1-3, R, 2 RBI; Hurn 1-3, 2B, R; Boyer 1-4, R, SB; Bradley 1-1, R; Crawford 0-2, 2 RBI; Gochnour 1-1, R.
Blaze: Marks 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI; Ciaciuch 1-3, 2B; Wolfe 1-3, R; Strute 1-3.
Second Game
Wilder 7, Blaze 3
Wilder 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 — 7 7 2
Blaze 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 — 3 7 1
WP- Bradley; LP- Page
Pitching Statistics
Wilder: Bradley 3 IP, 5 H, 3 R, ER, 3 BB, K; Shimko 2 IP, H, 0 R, BB; Bates 2 IP, H, 0 R, K.
Blaze: Page IP, 0 H, BB, K; Strute 5 IP, 4 H, 3 R, ER, 3 BB, 2 K.
Hitting Statistics
Wilder: Bates 2-4, R; Gochnour 1-3, R, 3 RBI; Hurn 1-2, 2B, R, RBI, SB; Chapman 1-1, R, RBI; Quast 1-2, R; Grubb 1-2; Konopaski 0-2, 2 BB, 2 R; Boyer 0-1, 2 BB, RBI, SB.
Blaze: Ciaciuch 2-3, 2B, RBI; Palao 2-4; Johnson 1-2, 2B, RBI; Malloy 1-3, R; Wolfe 1-3.
