MOUNT VERNON — Chimacum finally met a Class 1A baseball team it couldn’t beat.
Senior-dominated Meridian of Bellingham, which has been a top-five 1A school all year, shaded the No. 1 Cowboys 2-1 in nine innings in the tri-district championship game at Skagit Valley Community College on Saturday.
Chimacum (20-2 overall) will now be the tri-district No. 2 seed at the regionals this coming Saturday in Castle Rock.
The Cowboys open regional play at 10 a.m. likely against Rainier, a No. 4 seed, Chimacum coach Jim Dunn said.
Semifinal winners meet in the regional championship game in a doubleheader with the regional champion advancing to state.
The Cowboys split tri-district games this weekend, belting Friday Harbor 5-1 in the semifinals Friday at Coupeville High School.
It was a pitchers’ duel in the championship game Saturday with Meridian senior right-hander Zac Slesk keeping pace with Chimacum’s three-time Nisqually League MVP Landon Cray through seven innings.
Cray struck out 13 in seven innings, giving up five hits and an earned run — a solo homer — while walking two.
Slesk, meanwhile, fanned 10 batters while walking four and giving up seven hits in eight innings.
Meridian’s closer picked up the win by pitching a three-up, three-out ninth inning with one strikeout.
The bottom line is that it was a well-played game by two solid teams, Dunn said.
“The kids are upset because they don’t like losing — no one likes losing — but we didn’t beat ourselves,” Dunn said.
“We lost to a very, very well-coached team. They are a solid team with good pitching, defense and hitting.”
With eight senior starters, Meridian also has good experience.
“They were, by far, the best team we have faced all year,” Dunn said.
Cray also went 2-for-5 at bat for the Cowboys while Lucas Dukek was 1-for-4 with a double.
Dukek also had his fourth home run of the season in Friday’s game against Friday Harbor.
Quinn Eldridge started Friday’s game on the mound, striking out seven while allowing just five hits in six innings.
“He did well today,” Dunn said about Eldridge’s performance. “Usually it’s his curveball that gets batters chasing, but his fastball had a little extra velocity, and he just peppered it by them all game.”
Eldridge was hurt out in the field in Saturday’s game but he should be ready to go in the regionals, Dunn said.
“He got bruised up,” he said.
Eldridge was ran over while covering second base.
“The kid was aiming at Quinn’s legs; I don’t know what he was thinking,” Dunn said.
The Meridian player was ejected for the base-running play.
Saturday Meridian 2, Chimacum 1, 9 innings
Meridian 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 — 2 9 0
Chimacum 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 1 7 1
WP- Brockman; LP- McConnell (3-1)
Pitching Statistics
Meridian: Slesk 8IP, 10K, 4BB, 7H, ER; Brockman IP, K, 0BB, 0H, 0R.
Chimacum: Cray 7IP, 13K, 2BB, 5H, ER; McConnell 2IP, 2K, 2BB, 4H, ER.
Hitting Statistics
Chimacum: Cray 2-5; Dukek 1-4 (2B).
Friday Chimacum 5, Friday Harbor 1
Chimacum 1 0 2 0 1 1 0 — 5 7 1
Friday Harbor 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 — 1 6 1
WP- Eldridge (6-0); LP- Jangard
Pitching Statistics
Chimacum: Eldridge 6IP, 7K, 0BB, 5H, ER; McConnell IP, 2K, BB, H.
Friday Harbor: Jangard 7IP, 6K, 2BB, 7H, 5ER.
Hitting Statistics
Chimacum: Cray 1-2 (2B, 2R, 2BB); Manix 1-3 (R, RBI); Dukek 1-3 (R, RBI, HR); Ajax 1-3 (R, 3B).
Friday Harbor: Lambright 2-3 (2 2B).
Franklin Pierce 5, Sequim 2
TACOMA — The Wolves’ season came to an end in a loser-out bi-district game at Foss High School on Saturday.
Sequim, which scored its two runs in the top of the fifth inning, ended the season with a 15-8 record.
“You’re never quite ready for your season to end, but we played a strong game and got shut down by a good pitcher,” Sequim coach Dave Ditlefsen said.
Mikey Lyon pitched a two-hit complete game for Franklin Pierce, striking out four and walking three in seven innings.
Tyler Campbell pitched 5 2/3 innings for the Wolves, keeping Sequim in the game.
Jake Hudson struck out the one batter he faced in the sixth inning for the Wolves.
Campbell and Karsten Wake had a hit each for Sequim, scoring the team’s only runs in the fifth inning.
The Wolves are getting five starters back for next year.
Franklin Pierce 5, Sequim 2
Sequim 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 — 2 2 1
F. Pierce 3 0 0 0 1 1 x — 5 9 1
WP- Lyon; LP- Campbell
Pitching Statistics
Sequim: Campbell 5 2/3IP, 2K, 2BB, 9H, 5R; Hudson 1/3IP, K, 0H, 0R.
Franklin Pierce: Lyon 7IP, 4K, 3BB, 2H, 2R.
Lindbergh 9, Port Angeles 0
BREMERTON — The Roughriders came through a crazy bi-district weekend to capture the fourth seed for 2A regionals next weekend.
Lindbergh beat the Riders 9-0 early Saturday and then Port Angeles had its seeding game with Sumner rained out after a 0-0 stalemate at the end of three innings.
Sumner received the third seed through a power ranking, and the Riders took the fourth seed.
Port Angeles next plays Saturday in Bellingham at 1 p.m. in the regional semifinals.
It’s not known who they will be playing.
But the semifinal winners play for the regional championship and a state berth.
Errors, bad bounces and one bad inning on the mound from A.J. Konopaski doomed the Riders against Lindbergh in Saturday’s first game.
The good news for Port Angeles is that Konopaski will be available for the Riders at the regional tournament.
The standout player also qualified for district boys tennis.
He will compete in Tacoma in tennis Tuesday in the West Central District tournament but will play baseball Saturday no matter what he does in tennis, he said as the baseball team bus was heading back to Port Angeles on Saturday.
