By Pierre LaBossiere
and Michael Carman
Peninsula Daily News
PORT ANGELES — The Lefties got their second straight dominant pitching performance against Walla Walla, as Luke Fraley took a no-hitter into the ninth inning in a 4-1 win Friday night.
In their past two games against the Sweets, Lefties’ pitchers have given up a total of three hits in 18 innings and two starting pitchers seriously flirted with no-hitters.
Fraley, a pitcher at Tiffin University in Ohio, had his no-hitter broken up with a single by the leadoff hitter Tommy Henderson in the ninth. Fraley, who ended up throwing 95 pitches, walked the next batter and hit a batter to load the bases, putting his gem in jeopardy. Jake Suddreth came in and got three straight outs for the save, with a runner scoring on a groundout.
The Lefties got on the board in the third when Seth Freed hit a single, then eventually came around to score on a wild pitch. Alex Junior walked and he came around to third, scoring on a Brody Kato RBI sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
The Lefties scored two more runs in the fifth inning when Junior hit a single, stole second then moved to third on a grounder. Kato walked and then stole second base and Sean Roby drove in both runners with a two-RBI double.
Austyn Tengan and Dutton Elske each had two hits in the game while Junior scored two runs and Kato ended up with two RBIs.
The victory sealed Port Angeles’ second series win on the season. The Lefties took two of three games in their first road trip at Kelowna earlier this month.
Port Angeles 4, Walla Walla 1
Sweets 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 — 1 1 0
Lefties 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 — 4 7 0
WP: Fralely LP: Parker SV: Suddreth
Pitching
Sweets — Parker 5IP, 4ER, 4BB, 4Ks.
Lefties — Fralely 8IP, 1H, 1ER, 3BB, 7K; Suddreth, 1IP, 0H, 0BB, 1K.
Hitting
Sweets — Henderson 1-2, R; Capra 0-4, RBI
Lefties — Tengan 2-3; Elske 2-3; Freed 1-3, R; Junior 1-2, 2R, 2BB; Roby 1-4, 2RBI, 2B; Kato 0-1, R, RBI.
Thursday’s Game Port Angeles 4, Walla Walla 2
PORT ANGELES — Leave it to a right-hander to reel in the first home victory in Lefties history.
The victory came via a dominant seven-inning, 10-strikeout, two-hit performance from pitcher Wyatt Haccou in a 4-2 win over the Sweets on Thursday.
Haccou took a no-hit bid into the sixth inning before Danny Sinatro laid down a bunt single to open the inning, potentially breaking one of baseball’s “unwritten rules” (thou shalt not break up a no-hitter via a late-game bunt).
The Lefties staked Haccou to a 3-1 lead on a two-run double by catcher Brody Kato in the bottom of the third and a fourth inning single by John Burghardt.
The lead grew to 4-1 in the seventh when Jake Portaro’s RBI single scored Alex Junior.
Walla Walla scored once in the ninth but Harvard’s Keiran Shaw came on in relief and picked up the final two outs and the save.
The two wins puts the Lefties at 4-5, tied for third and one game out of first place in the West Coast League’s North Division. The Lefties played after press deadline Saturday, then take Sunday off. After their weeklong home stand, the Lefties take the MV Coho across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to play at Victoria at 6:35 p.m. Monday.
Port Angeles 4, Walla Walla 2
Sweets 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 — 2 2 1
Lefties 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0— 4 4 2
WP: Haccou LP: Dimlow Sv. Shaw
Pitching
Sweets — Dimlow 4IP, 4H, 3R, 2ER, 2BB, 6K; Stanton 3IP, H, ER, 5BB, K; Deere IP, 0H, 0R, BB, K.
Lefties — Haccou 7IP, 2H, R, BB, 10K; Reynolds 1.1IP, ER, BB, 2K; Shaw 0.2 IP, 0H, 0R, K.
Hitting
Sweets — Nyquist 1-4, Sinatro 1-2, BB, R.
Lefties — B. Kato 2-2, 2 2B, 2RBI; Junior 1-4 BB, 2B, 2R; Portaro 1-3, RBI; Burghardt 1-4, RBI
