*Updated with a recap of the Olympic Crosscutters’ 7-6 win over Mount Spokane.
BELLINGHAM — Limited to just seven hits and one run in the first two games of the American Legion AAA State Tournament, Wilder Senior busted loose for 21 hits in a 15-5 win in six innings over the (Spokane) Northstars on Monday.
“Gosh, that was pretty crazy,” coach Karl Myers said. “Anytime you can get 21 hits that’s a pretty spectacular day. We had contributions from our starters, from our bench guys. We focus on making hard contact and we made plenty of hard contact today.”
The one through five hitters in the Wilder batting order went 16 for 25 with 10 RBIs in the win.
Leadoff hitter Joel Wood and No. 2 hitter Gavin Guerrero each went 4 for 6 and No. 3 hitter Ethan Flodstrom continued his torrid state tournament with three doubles and five RBIs.
Flodstrom has five doubles and a triple in three state games.
“He’s doing really well,” Myers said. “He’s being aggressive on good pitches and squaring balls up.”
Wilder rallied from a 5-1 deficit in the loser-out contest after starting pitcher Timmy Adams yielded five runs in the bottom of the first.
“It took him a little while to settle in,” Myers said. “He wasn’t allowing any hard contact, but too many free passes.”
Adams walked three and hit another batter in that first inning, but persevered to go four more frames for Wilder.
“He threw 48 pitches in the first inning and then 50 over the rest of the game,” Myers said. “He’s proven he’s capable all summer, so we kept him in there.”
Myers said getting a run back in the second inning was helpful for Adams’ confidence.
“The guys were confident all day, there was no point where they were panicking,” Myers said. “Once we tied it up we were on a roll.”
The area squad will play again Tuesday at either 4 p.m. or 7 p.m.
Wilder Senior 15, Northstars (Spokane) 5, 6 innings
Wilder 1 1 1 3 3 6 — 15 21 0
North 5 0 0 0 0 0 — 5 7 5
WP: Adams LP:
Pitching
Wilder — Adams 5IP, 6H, 5ER, 4BB, 3K; Bowen IP, H, BB, K.
Hitting
Wilder — Wood 4-6, 3R; Guerrero 4-6, 2B, 4R, 2RBI; Flodstrom 3-5, 3 2B, 5RBI; Bradow 2-4, R, 2RBI; Whitman 3-4, BB, 2R, RBI; Hall 1-3, 2BB, 2B, 2RBI; Woods 2-4, 3B, R, RBI
Kennewick Outlaws 5, Wilder Senior 0
BELLINGHAM — Wilder Senior had opportunities but couldn’t unlock the right combination at the plate, stranding eight runners in a 5-0 loss to the Kennewick Outlaws on Sunday night.
Singles by Milo Whitman and Timmy Adams and a two-out walk to Brody Merritt loaded the bases for Wilder in the bottom of the second. But Wilder came away empty when Wyatt Hall lined out to right to end the threat.
Ethan Flodstrom doubled and tripled for Wilder with two outs in the third and fifth innings, respectively, but was stranded each time.
Adams was hit by a pitch and Tyler Bowen singled with one out in the fourth for Wilder, but the promising inning was cut short on a Merritt flyout and a Hall groundout.
Kennewick broke open the 0-0 game with two runs in the top of the fifth.
Seth Scofield walked and then hit the first two batters and eventually allowed runs on a sacrifice fly and a double as Wilder trailed 2-0.
Wilder reliever Jadon Seibel got the first two outs in the sixth, but allowed three straight singles and Kennewick added two more runs for a 4-0 lead.
Kennewick got the final run on an RBI double off Carson Ness in the seventh.
Hall doubled with one out in Wilder’s last turn at bat but the rally wasn’t to be.
Kennewick Outlaws 5, WIlder Senior 0
Kenne 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 — 5 8 0
Wilder 0 0 0 0 0 0 0— 0 6 0
LP: Scofield
Pitching
Wilder Senior — Merritt 4IP, 3H, 3BB, 3K; Scofield IP, H, 2ER, BB; Seibel IP, 3H, 2R, ER, BB; Ness IP, H, ER, BB.
Hitting
Wilder Senior — Flodstrom 2-3, 2B, 3B; Hall 1-3; Whitman 1-3, Bowen 1-3; Adams 1-2, HBP.
State A Tournament
Olympic Crosscutters 7, Mount Spokane 6 (loser-out)
RICHLAND — Elisha Dujue had a busy seventh inning for the Olympic Crosscutters in an elimination game at the American Legion State A Baseball Tournament on Monday.
Dujue doubled home the tying run and scored the eventual winning run on a Connor Reed double in the top of the seventh. And after taking the pitchers’ mound and allowing —what else — a leadoff double — Dujue caught a pop bunt, wheeled to second base and doubled that leadoff runner off the bag.
He followed up with a swinging strikeout to clinch the game and earn the victory.
Playing in 94-degree weather, the Cutters held a 5-0 lead entering the bottom of the sixth inning thanks to a strong pitching performance from John Vaara, according to coach Anthony Koeninger. But Mount Spokane got to relief pitcher Kole Acker for five runs and Dujue for another score to take a 6-5 lead.
“It looked pretty grim for us,” Koeninger said.
Vaara drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a wild pitch in Olympic’s final at-bats. Dujue’s double to left tied the game up and Reed followed up with an extra-base hit to right to score Dujue.
Dujue yielded a leadoff double in the bottom of the seventh.
“They led off with a booming double to deep center,” Koeninger said. “Things looked grim again.”
But Dujue and Dalton Kilmer teamed on the double play and Dujue did the rest to ice the game.
“I told the kids it would have been great if we won 5-0, but that wouldn’t build anywhere near the confidence that losing the lead, gaining it back and almost losing it again would for us,” Koeninger said.
Koeninger marveled at the odds-defying win.
“To not only have to score to stay in it but then we had to hold them with a guy on second and no outs,” Koeninger said.
“And in a loser-out game at state.”
The Cutters will play again at either 4 p.m. or 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Hanford Flames 18, Olympic Crosscutters 3, 4 innings
RICHLAND — Not much went right for the Crosscutters in a day two loss Sunday to host Hanford at the American Legion A State Tournament.
Olympic committed six errors and walked 10 Flames batters in the game as 13 of Hanford’s runs were unearned.
“It began with the walks and it degraded pretty quickly from there,” coach Anthony Koeninger said. “And then our defense kind of fell asleep because they weren’t getting any action and they started throwing the ball all over the place.”
Dalton Kilmer was a bright spot for the Crosscutters, going 1 for 2 with a walk, three stolen bases and two runs.
Hanford 18, Olympic Crosscutters 3, 4 innings
Oly 1 0 2 0 — 3 6 6
Han 4 3 6 5 — 18 6 1
WP: Johnson LP: Flodstrom
Pitching
Olympic — Flodstrom 2IP, 2H, 7R, 5ER, 6BB; Rancourt IP, H, 6R, 4ER, 3BB; Woodley IP, 3H, 5R, 4ER, BB, K.
Hitting
Olympic — Kilmer 1-2, BB, 3 SB, 2R; Vaara 1-2, BB; Robinson 1-3; Indelicato 1-2; Woodley 1-2.
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Compiled from team reports. Email scores to sports@peninsuladailynews.com or phone 360-417-3525.
