Saturday's 2B Baseball: Pirates Sail Into Semifinals with 8-4 Win Over Onalaska

ADNA – After a bit of a false start here Saturday afternoon the Pirates were able to find their bearings and hit their way past Onalaska by a score of 8-4 in their District 4 2B baseball playoff game.

Adna used a big seven run inning to distance themselves from a plucky Loggers’ squad, but the the win did little to put Pirates’ skipper Jon Rooklidge at ease.

“I liked the way we started the game with a double and then the guy gets to third base and we strike out three times in the middle of our order,” said Rooklidge with a hefty dose of sarcasm. “Maybe that was just kind of a sign about where we were today.”

The Pirates actually trailed 1-0 in that bottom half of the first inning when they stranded Elmer Loose at third base after he smacked a leadoff double and then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Onalaska plated their run in the top half of the inning after A.J. Volk was plunked to leadoff the game and then driven home by cleanup hitter Kyle Trulson on a double to the right field gap.

After Adna starting pitcher Sawyer Burdick set the Loggers down in order in the second inning, the Pirates came up to bat ready to scrap.

Matt Scheuber and Cole Fay got things started in the bottom with a pair of singles and then Camden Ryan walked to load the bases. The next batter, Abel Ingle, singled to left field that resulted in two runs after a fielder error and then Trevor Minkoff slapped a single of his own to drive in another run. Elmer Loose then walked to load the bases again and Chance Fay followed up with a single to score another run. An error on a Sawyer Burdick ground ball resulted in two more runs for Adna and then Conner Weed drove in the final run of the inning with a sacrifice fly that reached the warning track in right field.

In addition to the two errors in the inning, most of the Loggers felt that there were a couple other balls that probably should have been caught. Those missed opportunities let the inning snowball until Loggers starting pitcher Tristan Lawrence was replaced by Kayden Allison.

“Tristan Lawrence threw well, we just didn’t give him very good support for one game and the freshman Kayden Allison really threw well,” said Onalaska coach Rocky Stanley. “We played solid baseball today except for one inning.”

After their offensive explosion, Adna was able to score another run in the third inning after Cole Fay singled to lead things off and Abel Ingle singled to drive him home.

Finding themselves down 8-1, Onalaska refused to go away quietly and instead mounted a mini-scoring spree of their own in the fifth inning. Loggers Tanner McClean, Cade Lawrence, and Kyle Hamilton all reached base by walk or hit by pitch and then a single from A.J. Volk brought McLean and Lawrence around to score. Hamilton scored after Ashton Haight reached on an error to load the bases and Matthew Kurzeika was plunked in the foot with an errant pitch from relief pitcher Ingle, who relieved Burdick after his second walk of the inning.

Stanley was proud of his team for the way they responded to the eight run explosion by the Pirates.

“They didn’t fold their tent. They battled right to the last pitch,” said Stanley. “They could have quit, got 10-runned and gone home early, but they didn’t. They battled and battled and battled.”

Rooklidge was also complementary of the Loggers, noting, “They fought back hard and they’ve made tremendous strides as a program.”

The Adna skipper was more critical of his own team’s uneven effort.

“I felt like we played real well early and then we kind of let them off the hook and didn’t finish and we just got stagnant,” said Rooklidge. “On the whole on the mound, the guys that we walked and the guys that we hit scored and you just can’t do that at this level. You’ve got to finish teams off.”

One positive for Adna is that starting pitcher Sawyer Burdick finished with less than 75 pitches, so he will be available for their upcoming semifinal game. Burdick struck out seven Loggers in 4 ⅓ innings on Saturday with three earned runs.

“I thought that Sawyer did a nice job early and then, (because of) pitch count, we got him out of there just so we could have him Tuesday. I know that he probably wanted to go further,” said Rooklidge.

Rooklidge was also pleased of Abel’s effort at the plate as the team’s eighth hitter in the lineup, stating, “Abel was two for two, took a walk in his other at bat and had RBIs there. He was solid.”

Onalaska will face Rainier at 1 p.m. in Adna on Tuesday in a loser-out game and Stanley started prepping his team for a good bounce back game immediately after Saturday’s contest.

“I just told them I’m proud of them. I mean one bad inning, when you’re playing a good team like that you can’t give them five outs in one inning because they are going to jump on ya,” said Stanley, who noted that his team split their two-game set with the Mountaineers during the regular season. “They’re solid but we can play with anybody in this thing, so long as we only have to get 21 outs instead of 26.”

With their win, Adna advances to face Ocosta in the district quarterfinals at 3 p.m. in Mossyrock on Tuesday. Rooklidge was also hopeful that his team would find a way to come out and play a cleaner game in their next go round.

“You know what, we can play better, but a win is a win,” said Rooklidge.

Onalaska Eliminates South Bend

ADNA — Tanner McLean pitched 6 ⅔ strong innings for the Loggers to lead Onalaska to a 6-2 win over South Bend in a loser out District 4 2B Baseball Tournament game here on Saturday.

McLean struck out five batters and allowed one run.

“He was huge. He went 6 ⅓. Threw really well. He had a clutch two out base hit that scored two runs when it was 2-1 and kind of opened it up a bit,” Onalaska coach Rocky Stanley said. “He had a great day. He jumped in and played well.”

AJ Volk had a hit, two walks and two runs and Ashton Haight added two hits and a run. Cole Christensen, Adrian Sanchez and McLean all had a hit for the Loggers.

South Bend scored a run in the first before Onalaska tied the game with a run in the third inning. The Loggers took the lead in the sixth with three runs, and secured the win with two runs in the seventh.

Toledo Falls to Kalama to End Season

ILWACO — Kalama scored eight runs in the first inning to cruise to a 14-4 win in six innings over Toledo in a loser out District 4 2B Baseball Tournament game here on Saturday.

Toledo’s Gannon Madill was 3 for 4 with a double, RBI and a run. Bryce Marcil was 2 for 2 with a run and Matt Stavig and Mateo Vodjansky each had a double for the Indians.

The Chinooks scored five runs in the fourth inning and added one more run in the sixth to end the game.

Toledo was 9-11 overall and 8-8 in league games this season. It was the final prep baseball game for Toledo seniors’ Madill, Bauter, Christian Sanjurjo, Dawson Marcil, Tommy Kinsman and Cody Towns.