SEQUIM — A banner week for the Port Angeles and Sequim baseball teams resumes today when the rainshadow rivals meet up on the Wolves’ home diamond at 4:15 p.m.
The Roughriders have won four of their five past games since last Wednesday, including a 3-0 record in Olympic League 2A Division play (Port Angeles’ first-place showdown against North Kitsap ended after press deadline Tuesday).
Sequim, meanwhile, shook off an 11-6 loss to North Mason by upsetting previously undefeated in Olympic League 2A play North Kitsap (7-1, 9-3) 7-4 last Thursday. The Wolves followed that win with a 10-0 blanking of Klahowya on Monday and have won three of their past four games since resuming play after spring break on April 11.
Sterling pitching has fueled Port Angeles all season. Through Monday, the Riders (7-1, 11-3) have allowed two runs or less in 11 of their 14 contests and have a team ERA of just 2.40 in 91 innings pitched with 91 strikeouts.
Even better in league
Those numbers dip further in Olympic League play. Port Angeles has a 1.16 ERA as a unit in 54 innings, with 71 strikeouts, 13 walks and a 0.815 WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched) ratio.
Only four pitchers in Major League Baseball posted WHIP numbers of less than 1.0 during the 2017 season.
But Port Angeles pitchers elevated their games, if not the baseball, in the last five outings.
“[Our] pitchers have been shoving it lately,” Riders coach Karl Myers said.
Port Angeles pitchers allowed five runs, three earned, on 16 hits in 30 innings pitched — good for a 0.70 ERA with 32 strikeouts and eight walks.
In Olympic League contests, Hayden Woods threw a three-hitter in a five-inning, 10-0 shutout of Bremerton; Brady Shimko and Timmy Adams combined on a no-hitter in a 10-1 win against Kingston; Colton McGuffey and Brody Merritt teamed to shut down third-place Olympic 3-2 last Friday.
On the artificial turf at Bellingham’s Joe Martin Stadium last Saturday, Ethan Flodstrom, Adams and Woods combined to allow just four hits in a 1-0 loss to Northwest Conference power Burlington-Edison (14-3), and Woods, Jadon Seibel and Bo Bradow four-hit Squalicum in a 6-1 win in the second game of the Riders’ doubleheader.
Sequim (2-6, 6-7), meanwhile, broke North Kitsap’s 17-game Olympic League 2A winning streak, handing North Kitsap its first Olympic League loss since a 10-5 Wolves win on March 24, 2017.
The Wolves’ win also helped push Port Angeles into a tie for first with North Kitsap in the race for the league title and a bye in the first round of the West Central District playoffs which begin Saturday, May 5.
Softball Port Angeles at Sequim
SEQUIM — The Riders and Wolves will meet for the second time in little over a week in today’s contest at 4:45 p.m. at Sequim High School.
Port Angeles rallied from a 3-0 deficit midway through the fourth inning to beat Sequim 7-5 in a persistent rain at Billy Whiteshoes Memorial Park on Monday, April 16.
The Riders (7-0, 10-1) have ran their Olympic League 2A winning streak to 42 consecutive games in the interim, including a 14-6 win over Olympic last Friday that Port Angeles coach Randy Steinman called his team’s “best game of the year.”
Sequim (4-3, 4-9) will be looking to bounce back after falling 3-2 to 1A Klahowya on Monday.
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
