PORT ANGELES — Wilder Baseball concluded pool play undefeated, beating the Seattle Titans 4-1 in a scrappy cross-over game at the 15th annual Dick Brown Firecracker Classic at Civic Field.
Wilder improved to 16-3 on the summer, winning 15 consecutive games after opening the season a tepid 1-3.
Earlier in pool play, Wilder shut out Victoria 8-0 and beat Kingston 7-2 to win the Group A title.
Wilder (3-0 in the tourney) played undefeated Washington Nationals (3-0) of Group B for the Firecracker championship Sunday afternoon. Results weren’t available by press time.
The Seattle Titans, meanwhile, were the second best team from Group B.
Wilder scored four runs on five hits, and had two errors.
Seattle earned one run on five hits, and had three errors.
Jordan Shepherd went the distance for Wilder, giving up just five hits with an unearned run in the seven-inning game.
He also struck out eight and had no walks.
‘Best performance’
“Shepherd was dominate on the mound in his best performance this year,” Wilder coach Chad Wagner said.
The zero walks was crucial for the win, Wagner added.
“Give up five hits, and I don’t care, but when you give up walks and then hits come after them, that’s where you get hurt.
“Shepherd was in total control of the game.”
On offense, Kyle Kelly went 2 for 3 with two RBI and a stolen base while Brady Konopaski was 1 for 3 with two runs scored and a stolen base.
Also hitting well were Talon Cameron, who went 1 for 2 with an RBI while Brett Wright was a perfect 1 for 1 and Brian DeFrang also went 1 for 1 with two walks, a run scored and two stolen bases.
“We keep improving as we must,” Wagner said.
In other third-round games Saturday, the Washington Nationals beat Sequim 10-1 and Kingston took care of Victoria by the score of 10-2.
