PORT ANGELES — A young Port Angeles baseball team had a fantastic season debut, complete with a sunny sky and warm spring-like day at Civic Field Tuesday, in a 10-0 six-inning combined no-hitter over Bremerton.
The trio of Elijah Flodstrom, Rylan Politika and Brian Guttormsen allowed no hits and no walks. Flodstrom struck out three in three innings. Politika struck out three in two innings and Guttormsen struck out one in one inning. The only baserunners allowed were one Bremerton hitter that got on base on an error and four hit batsmen.
The game was called after six innings due to the 10-run rule.
“They threw a shutout, they threw a lot of strikes,” said coach Zac Moore, Wilder coach who has taken over the varsity squad this year. “And they came back from deep counts. They competed well.”
Out of 85 pitches thrown by the trio, 51 were strikes.
Port Angeles pitcher Elijah Flodstrom throws in the first inning against Bremerton on Tuesday at Port Angeles Civic Field. Flodstrom started the game and was part of a staff no-hitter in a 10-0 win. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
“We definitely played well. That was a good first game,” said Flodstrom, who picked up the victory on the mound. “Our staff had a great game.”
“I really felt ready to play after football and basketball,” said Alex Angevine, who went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
The Riders have just five seniors with the rest of the team made up on sophomores and juniors. Moore called it a “sophomore-heavy squad.”
The Riders didn’t have a ton of hits — seven — but they made Bremerton pay for six errors by making their hits timely.
At the plate, Angevine had two singles, including a sharp rap into the left-center gap that scored two runs in a big six-run second inning that blew the game open. He went to second base on the throw and ended up scoring later in the inning.
The Riders are playing without an outfield fence for a few games as the Port Angeles boys soccer team is playing some games at Civic Field while the surface at Wally Sigmar Field at Peninsula College is refurbished. Angevine also hit what would have likely been a home run over that missing fence. The deep drive to left-center was dropped on the run by a Bremerton outfielder and was scored as an error. Angevine also hit another long drive to center that might have flirted with being a home run if the fence had been there. That ball got caught.
Blake Sohlberg also had a pair of hits and scored two runs for the Riders. Kole Acker and Colton Romero each had a hit, a run scored and an RBI, while Blake Merideth scored two runs.
The Riders (1-0, 1-0) will be right back at it against the Knights (0-1, 0-1), with the second half of a home-and-home series at Bremerton at 4:15 p.m. today.
Port Angeles 10, Bremerton 0
Brem. 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 6
PA 0 6 2 0 0 2 — 10 7 1
WP: E. Flodstrom LP: McClain
Pitching
Port Angeles — E. Flodstrom 3 IP, 3 K; R. Politika 2 IP, 3 K; B. Guttormsen IP, K.
Bremerton — McClain 1.1 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, K; Infante 3.2 IP 2 H, BB, 3 K; Weisbarth H, ER, 2 BB.
Hitting
Port Angeles — Angevine 2-4, R, 2 RBI; Sohlberg 2-2, 2 R BB; Acker 1-4, R, RBI; Romero 1-4, R, RBI; E. Flodstrom 1-3, R; Merideth 2 R, BB.
Bainbridge 16, Sequim 5
SEQUIM — Going up against 3A Bainbridge, the Sequim Wolves were down just 6-5 entering the sixth inning, but were victimized by a seven-run Spartans’ fifth inning in a 16-5 season-opening loss.
Bainbridge scored four runs in the first but the Wolves battled back with a run in the bottom of the first and four more runs in the third.
Devyn Dearinger had a double and RBI for the Wolves, while Ethan Staples went 2-for-4. Zeke Schmadeke went 1-for-3 with a run scored and two runs batted in. Lincoln Bear had a hit and two stolen bases, while Ayden Holland had a hit, run, RBI, sacrifice fly and walk.
Sequim (0-1, 0-1) has a home-and-home series against the Spartans, playing at Bainbridge (1-0, 1-0) at 4:15 p.m. today.
Bainbridge 16, Sequim 5
Bain. 4 0 1 1 7 1 2 — 16 12 2
Seq. 1 0 4 0 0 0 0 — 5 6 6
WP: Zimmer LP:
Pitching
Bainbridge — Hobbs 3 IP, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K; French 4 IP, H, BB, 5 K.
Sequim — Jennings 2 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K; LaBoy 2.2 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 2 K; Mote 2.1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, K.
Hitting
Bainbridge — Browning 2-4, 2B, 3 R, RBI; Miller 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Lavigne 1-3, 2B, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB; Curfman 3-5, R, 2 RBI.
Sequim — Staples 2-4; Dearinger 1-3, 2B, RBI; Schmadeke 1-3, R, 2 RBI, SB; Holland 1-2, R, RBI, BB; Bear 1-2, 2 SB.
Charles Wright 5, East Jefferson 4
TACOMA — East Jefferson got spectacular pitching from Brody Moore and Rhian Popp, but the Rivals fell in their season opener 5-4 to Charles Wright largely because of defensive errors.
Moore had 13 strikeouts in just 4⅔ innings, which means 13 of the 14 outs that Moore induced were strikeouts. He allowed just two hits.
“It was a great pitching performance by Brody,” said coach Ben Lazano. Rhian Popp pitched well in relief, going 1⅓ and allowing no hits while striking out one. Six errors came back to haunt the Rivals.
“Errors did us in. It was unfortunate luck to allow them [Charles Wright] to get back in the game,” Lazano said.
Popp went 2-for-2 at the plate and scored two runs. Moore had a hit and a run scored and Cash Holmes went 1-for-3 with two RBIs.
The Rivals (0-1, 0-1) are off for a week, then return to action at Vashon on Monday.
Charles Wright 5, East Jefferson 4
EJ 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 — 4 4 6
CW 0 0 0 1 4 0 X — 5 2 1
Pitching
East Jefferson — Moore 4.2 IP, 13 K, 2 H, 2 ER; Popp 1.1 IP, K.
Hitting
East Jefferson — Popp 2-2, 2 R; Moore 1-3, R; Holmes 1-3, 2 RBI.
Port Angeles first baseman Ezra Townsend receives the throw from the pitcher in a pick-off attempt on Bremerton’s Bryce Ells on Tuesday afternoon in Port Angeles. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
