WILDER: Wilder Jr. comes back strong at Battle with pair of one-hitters

TACOMA — The Wilder Jr. boys recovered from a slow start at the Battle of the Bats at Bellarmine High School to bounce back with a pair of one-hit shutouts Saturday.

Wilder Jr. beat the Kent Bulldogs Red team 8-0 and the Rippers Mantle out of Redmond 13-0 on Saturday, after losing a pair of games Friday by the identical score of 8-3.

Coach Rob Merritt said Wilder Jr.’s first game Friday was at 8 a.m., meaning the boys had to get up before 4 a.m. to leave at 4:30 a.m. so they could get to the game in time. With such an early start, the boys were flat and didn’t play well Friday.

“We were not very energized,” coach Merritt said.

However, Saturday was a completely different story as Wilder Jr. dominated both games on the mound and at the plate.

Wilder Jr. beat the Kent Bulldogs Red 8-0 in five innings behind Brody Merritt’s gem. Merritt gave up a sawed-off single to the leadoff hitter then didn’t give up a hit the rest of the game. He struck out five and walked four batters, and he contributed three RBIs at the plate.

Slater Bradley also went 2 for 3 with a run scored, while Nathan Miller drove in two runs and Ethan Flodstrom had a run and an RBI.

The game against Rippers Mantle was an even bigger blowout. This time, Bradley went three innings, giving up just one hit and striking out three while walking two. Flodstrom went 1 for 1 with a triple, two walks and two runs scored. Merritt went 2 for 3 with a double and a triple, a run scored and two RBIs.

Lucas Jarnigan also went 2 for 2 with a double and two RBIs and Miller had a hit, run scored and RBI.

In Friday’s games, Wilder Jr. lost that 8 a.m. game to the PBC Zips. Flodstrom was 2 for 3 with a double and two RBIs, while Milo Whitman was 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI.

Against the Spokane Expos, Wilder Jr. again lost 8-3. This game was actually close until the fifth inning when the Expos erupted for five runs to blow open a 3-2 game.

Bradley was 2 for 4 with a run scored, while Flodstrom was 1-3 with a double and two RBIs. Michael Grubb was 2 for 2 with a run scored.

In the entire tournament, Flodstrom was 5 for 10 with two doubles, a triple and five RBIs. Merritt also had five total RBIs.

Wilder Jr. 13, Rippers 0

WJr. 1 2 (10) — 13 10 2

Rippers 0 0 0 — 0 1 3

WP: Bradley

Pitching

Wilder Jr. — Bradley 3IP, 1H, 3K 2BB, 0ER.

Hitting

Wilder Jr. — Flodstrom 1-1, 3B, 2R, 2BB; Whitman 1-3, 2RBIs, R; Walker 1-1, RBI; Merritt 2-3, 2B, 3B, R, 2RBIs; Jarnigan 2-2, 2B, R, 2RBI; Miller 1-1, R, RBI.

Wilder Jr. 8, Kent 0

WJr. 1 0 4 1 2 — 8 7 0

Bulldogs 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 1 2

WP: Merritt

Pitching

Wilder Jr. — Merritt 5IP, 1H, 5K, 4BB, 0ER.

Hitting

Wilder Jr. — Bradley 2-3, R; Merritt 1-2, R, 3RBIs; Miller 1-1, R, 2RBIs; Flodstrom 1-3, R, RBI.

Spokane 8, Wilder Jr. 3

WJr. 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 — 3 7 2

Expos 1 2 0 0 5 0 0 — 8 10 3

LP: Jarnigan