PORT ANGELES — Experience excelled for Wilder Senior as some of the program’s longest-tenured players broke out under the lights in a 9-0 win over NW Sting of Seattle under the Civic Field lights Saturday night.
The win advanced Wilder Senior into the winner’s bracket of Sunday’s Dick Brown Memorial Firecracker Classic.
Wilder Senior starter Logan Olson, a four-year Wilder player, tossed a six-inning gem, allowing no runs while scattering three hits and three walks and controlling the zone with 11 strikeouts.
“His tempo [stood out],” Wilder Senior coach Zac Moore said. “He just goes after kids. He doesn’t mess around and goes right at the zone. He pushes everyone around him to get better, too. If you have that tempo and fast pace, it helps everyone else out. You want to play harder for a kid that’s competing that hard.”
Olson walked the first batter of the game while figuring out the night’s tight strike zone. But the right-hander adjusted quickly, getting the leadoff runner out immediately with a laser of a pickoff throw to first base. He then settled in and struck out the next two batters to get rolling.
“He picks around the zone so well, he earns the extra pitch really well [benefit of the doubt from umpires on close pitches],” Moore said. “Mariners fans saw that a while back with Cliff Lee, and it’s cool to see a kid at this level have a similar skill.”
The Forks pitcher was buoyed at the plate by a six-run fourth inning started by a leadoff single by No. 8 hitter Colton Romero.
“We got production later in the lineup, two really good hits from Colton. Those were nice to see,” Moore said.
Port Angeles’ Hunter Robinson reached on an error and Olson was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs.
Sequim’s Connor Bear drew a walk to force a run home, and the big hit, Landon Seibel’s two-run single, turned into a three-run play when Seibel advanced to second and the throw tumbled into center field. Wyatt Hall added an RBI groundout and Wilder added one more run to close out the big frame.
Seibel, another long-term Wilder player with a year of community college baseball experience, has been putting good wood on the ball during this wooden-bat tournament.
“He’s seeing the ball really well and really capitalizing on fastballs and putting a good swing together each time up,” Moore said.
Olson added some insurance runs to the pile when he laced a two-run triple to the fence in left field to score Elijah Flodstrom and Romero, sliding in safely under the tag at the third-base bag. Olson then came home with the final run on Bear’s bloop back to the pitcher.
Beckett Jarnagin made the defensive play of the game, running in to shallow center to make a diving grab in the early going and rob what would have been an extra-base hit.
Wilder Junior falls
Wilder Junior came up a little bit short of a comeback against the Kitsap Warriors, falling 12-9 Saturday afternoon at Civic Field.
The Junior side lives up to that name this summer, with a roster full of freshmen plus one sophomore in catcher Kaleb Mullen.
Wilder fared well at the plate for the most part but struggled with the bases loaded, getting minimal production out of three bases-loaded situations.
Tate Alton had the most productive day at bat, plating a two-run single in the first inning and bringing in two more in the bottom of the seventh with a double lashed down the third-base line.
Alex Angevine also had three hits at the top of the Junior batting order.
But errors didn’t help the Junior squad against an experienced Kitsap group. Wilder struggled on some hot shots in the infield and committed at least four errors against the Warriors. The Kitsap squad is essentially the Crosspoint Academy Warriors baseball team, a Class 1B school that lost the state baseball championship in late May.
The team is coached by former Sequim standout Derrin Doty.
Wilder Junior will host the American Legion AA District Tournament at Civic Field on July 15-16.
Wilder Senior 9, NW Sting 0
NWS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 3 1
WSR 0 0 0 6 0 0 3 X — 9 8 0
WP: Olson. LP: Managin.
Pitching
Wilder: Olson 6 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 3 BB, 11 K; Cagey IP, 0 R, 2 BB.
Hitting
Wilder: Romero 2-3, 2 R; Seibel 2-3, 2 R, 2 RBI; Olson 1-3, 3B, HBP, 2 RBI; Bear 1-3, BB, 2 RBI; Hall 0-3, BB, RBI; Jarnagin 1-3.
Wilder Senior first baseman Hunter Robinson tries to catch NW Sting base runner Winslow Wilson off the bag during Saturday’s game in the Dick Brown Memorial Firecracker Tournament at Port Angeles Civic Field. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Wilder Senior’s Beckett Jarnigan looks up after successfully stealing second as NW Sting’s Fritz Mangan and Alex Pantan, right, watch the infield on Saturday at Port Angeles Civic Field. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
