YAKIMA — Wilder Senior heated up on the mound and came through at the plate to pick up two wins Friday and put itself back into contention at the Garretson Memorial Tournament at Parker Field.
After opening with an ugly 12-6 loss to the Northwest Bandits on Thursday, Wilder Senior rode the arms of Adam Watkins and John Vaara to complete-game victories to join five other teams in the eight-team American Legion baseball tournament with 2-1 records entering Saturday’s play.
Wilder Senior took down two of those teams, as Watkins was dealing, one-hitting the Spokane Cannons and getting a moon shot of a home run by Jacob Felton in the bottom of the fifth inning to account for the lone run in the 1-0 triumph.
“Adam had a no-hitter going into the seventh [inning],” Wilder Senior coach Zac Moore said.
Watkins struck out six, hit three batters and walked two.
“We got our solo run from a solo shot by Jake Felton in the first game that I don’t think has landed yet,” Moore said.
Felton had two hits on the game and Connor Bear and Wyatt Hall accounted for Wilder Senior’s other base hits.
Vaara was on the mound against tournament host the Yakima Pepsi Beetles and the 6-foot-9 hurler tossed a two-hit shutout in a 6-0 Wilder Senior win.
“John was pitching ahead [in the count] and was basically untouched,” Moore said.
Vaara struck out six, walked two and hit two batters.
Wilder Senior exploded for a six-run fifth inning, keyed by Logan Olson’s two-run double. Bear and Forks’ Trey Baysinger also drove in runs in the big inning.
Wilder Senior continues play in the tournament today.
Nw Bandits 12, Wilder Sr. 6
Bandits 2 0 0 0 0 3 7 — 12 14 3
WSr. 2 0 0 0 0 4 0 — 6 3 2
WP: Fried LP: Seibel
Pitching
Bandits — Mattix 5 IP, 2 ER, 4 BB, 3 K; Fried IP, H, BB, 2 K; Poindexter 0.2 IP, BB, K.
Wilder Sr. — Seibel 6 IP, 4 ER, 7 K; Meadows 0 IP, ER, BB; Acker IP, 6 H, 5 ER, BB.
Hitting
Bandits — Linder 3-4, 3 R, RBI; Garmire 2-4, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI; Bennett 2-4, R, RBI; Heineman 2-4, R, 2 RBI; Marks 1-4, 2B, R, 2 RBI.
Wilder Sr. — Felton 1-3, 3B, 2 R, BB; Olson 1-2, 2 R, RBI, BB, SB; Woods 1-3, 2 RBI.
Wilder 1, Spokane 0
Spok. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 1 0
WSr. 0 0 0 0 1 0 X — 1 4 0
WP: Watkins LP: Deal
Pitching
Spokane — Deal 6 IP, 4 H, ER, BB, 6 K.
Wilder — Watkins 7 IP, H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K.
Hitting
Spokane — Deal 1-3.
Wilder — Felton 2-3, HR, R, RBI; Hall 1-3; Bear 1-2.
Wilder 6, Yakima 0
WSr. 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 — 6 5 1
Yakima 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 2 2
WP: Vaara LP: Rodriguez
Pitching
Wilder Sr. — Vaara 7 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 6 K.
Yakima — Rodriguez 4 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 5 K; Gama 3 IP, 2 H, BB, 3 K.
Hitting
Wilder Sr. — Olson 2-4, 2B,. R, 2 RBI; Baysinger 1-3, RBI, HBP; Bradow 1-3, SB, HBP; Price 1-3, R; Hall 0-3, R, BB, 2 SB; Watkins 0-2, R, SB, 2 BB.
Yakima — McDaniel 1-4; Taylor 1-2, BB.
