ADNA — It wasn’t the most promising way to start a baseball season.
The Pirates wound up on the short end of a no-hitter here Monday afternoon, falling 11-0 to Toledo in nonleague action.
“The good part about it is, we definitely saw the areas we need to improve on,” Adna coach Rex Ashmore said. “That’s a good thing about playing a nonleague game, and having a week before we play again.”
DJ Herbert, RJ Covey and Alex Teitzel worked the mound for the Indians. Peter Martin and Teitzel each went 3 for 5, and Alex Kleemeyer was 3 for 3 with a pair of doubles and 3 RBIs for Toledo.
“We looked better,” Indian coach Perry Herbst said. “We had more of our guys — our older kids — there.”
Ashmore was impressed with the defensive play of Mike Smith at second base, Lane Wasson at catcher and Ryan McClain in center field. Adna pitchers Adam Hart, Garrett Driver, Andrew Lawler and Nate Peterson combined for just one walk and three hit batsmen.
Toledo (1-1) hosts Toutle Lake on Wednesday, while Adna (0-1) hosts Napavine next Friday.
Keller’s Walk-Off Drops Cards
NAPAVINE — The Tigers took a comfortable 8-0 lead through four innings with Winlock, but that lead got a little too comfortable, as Winlock took a 9-8 lead after a two-run seventh inning.
“We fell asleep in the middle of the game,” said Napavine coach Bryan Bullock, whose team walked 10 batters and committed 3 of its 4 errors over the final three innings.
But Tiger senior Mason Keller helped provide the smelling salt in time, hitting a two-run walkoff homer — on a full count, after Joe Scamman led off with a two-strike base-hit — in the bottom of the seventh to give the team a 10-9 win here Monday night in a nonleague baseball game.
“(Mason) bailed us out,” Bullock said of Keller, who had two hits on the day.
The 9 runs allowed nearly spoiled a quality start from Tiger pitcher Marty Cozart, who allowed just one hit on eight strikeouts in four scoreless innings of mound duty.
“Winlock kept playing hard,” Bullock said. “They came back with some clutch hits to take the lead on us.”
Winlock’s Travis McCarthy and Napavine’s Skyler Wheeler each tallied three hits in the contest, where both teams also had six-run innings (the Tigers in the first, and the Cardinals in the sixth).
It was a typical early-season game, according to Bullock.
“These basketball kids have only got five practices in and we’ve played two games,” he said. “We still have a lot of things to improve on.”
Napavine (2-0) plays at North Beach today at 4 p.m., while Winlock is slated for a doubleheader Thursday in Montesano.
Elma Coasts Past Tenino
TENINO — Elma scored seven runs over the third and fourth innings to coast past the host Beavers, 9-4, in a nonleague boys baseball game.
The Eagles walked Tenino 11 times, but the Beavers only mustered four hits on the day.
“It seemed like we hit into a double play almost every inning,” Beaver coach Jesse Elam lamented. “It was a typical first game. We made some mistakes in the middle two innings that kind of cost us.”
The Beavers committed three errors, while allowing 10 hits. But they did, however, put up a three-spot in the sixth inning, and Derek Mozzone went 2 of 4 with a double.
Josh Moss took the mound for Tenino, striking out four in just two innings of duty.
Tenino (0-1) hosts Rainier Thursday in a SWW 1A League Evergreen Division doubleheader, starting at 3 p.m.
