PORT ANGELES — Michael Konopaski shut down Port Townsend and the Port Angeles bats lit up the Redskins as the Roughriders picked up a 9-1 Olympic League baseball win Wednesday at Civic Field.
Port Angeles has recovered from losing its first three games on the last at-bat to earn two consecutive victories.
“We’re finally playing some home games. It helps out a lot,” Riders coach Chad Wagner said.
“And guys started to hit, and we minimized errors.”
Konopaski allowed just two hits and one run over six innings, while striking out five.
“I felt like I had good command today, good velocity,” Konopaski said.
“I was just out there getting some ground balls. I wasn’t really worried about anything else, just getting ground balls so we could get out of the inning.”
New role
Making a rare start, Konopaski, normally the Riders’ second baseman and closer, won the match-up against Redskins ace Cody Russell.
“He threw well,” Port Townsend coach Tom Webster said of Konopaski.
“He’s a baseball player. He handcuffed us a little bit.”
After Konopaski’s solid six innings, freshman Curan Bradley pitched a three-up, three-down seventh in his first appearance of the season.
“That was his first time out . . . and he showed that he wasn’t nervous or anything like that,” Wagner said.
“Went out there and just pounded the strike zone, just like we asked him to do, so that proved something to me.”
Perhaps more important for the near future, the Riders’ bats came alive, with 13 hits and nine runs.
And unlike Tuesday’s win over Olympic when it scored four quick runs and then outlasted the Trojans, Port Angeles continued swatting hits throughout the game and plated runs in all but one inning.
All but one of those runs came with two outs.
“It’s timely hitting,” Wagner said. “Actually, it makes me nervous, I hate when they do that.”
Senior Kevin Herzog was right in the middle of most of the Riders’ offense, accounting for seven of Port Angeles’ nine runs (three RBI, four runs).
“He’s been struggling lately, so it was good for him to finally break out,” Wagner said. “He’s been hitting balls hard, but just right at people.
“So, I put him down in that nine-hole — kind of that second leadoff — see if he could get some more fastballs.
“He did his job today and drove in some runs.”
Herzog began the season hitting leadoff for the Riders. He said a pep talk from Wagner helped him overcome his early season slump.
“He said ‘You just need to stop thinking about it,’ ” Herzog said.
“So, I went up there with a clear mind and said, ‘I’m just going to hit the ball.’
“That’s what happened. I was just being patient, waiting for my pitch. When I saw my pitch, I tried capitalizing on it.”
Zach Lovik, who started at second base in place of Konopaski, drove in two runs for Port Angeles, and Richard Crawford went 2 for 2 at the plate with an RBI.
“It’s nice that we’re actually starting to come together and start hitting,” Konopaski, who contributed a hit and a run, said.
“It gives the pitchers a lot to work with.”
The Redskins weren’t nearly has helpful to Russell and Dillon Ralls, who pitched the final four innings in relief.
Port Townsend managed only two hits and five base runners in the game.
The lone run came in the fourth inning when the recently surging Emmett Davis doubled home Sean Dwyer from second base. It was Davis’ third consecutive game with an RBI.
Port Townsend’s other hit was a single by Russell in the sixth.
“We’ve got to get our bats rolling,” Webster said.
The Redskins (0-5, 0-6) were playing their third game in three days, and are in the midst of a brutal stretch in which they play seven games in 11 days, so they won’t have much practice time in the batting cages until next week.
In the field, Port Townsend prolonged innings by committing four errors.
“We had Cody out on the mound, he’s our ace, but we ended up making too many errors,” Webster said.
“We’ve been playing pretty clean baseball, but today wasn’t one of those days. So, we’ve got some stuff we’ve got to fix.”
The Redskins will again try for their first win of the season today when they host Olympic (1-3, 1-5).
The Trojans’ only win of the season came against the Olympic League’s other winless team, Kingston.
Port Angeles (2-3) has the weekend off before facing two big tests early next week.
The Riders host league powerhouse North Kitsap (5-0, 7-0) on Monday and 5-1 Klahowya (5-3 overall) on Tuesday.
Port Angeles 9, Port Townsend 1
Port Townsend 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 — 1 2 4
Port Angeles 2 1 2 0 1 3 x — 9 13 0
WP- Mi. Konopaski; LP- Russell
Pitching Statistics
Port Townsend: Russell 3 IP, K, 3 BB, 5 R; D. Ralls 3 IP, 2 BB, 4 R.
Port Angeles: Mi. Konopaski 6 IP, 2 H, 5 K, 2 BB, ER; Bradley IP, 2K.
Hitting Statistics
Port Townsend: Davis 1-3, 2B, RBI; Russell 1-3.
Port Angeles: Herzog 2-3, 3 RBI, 4 R, 2 SB; Lovik 2-3, 2 RBI; Crawford 2-2, RBI.
