WINLOCK — On Tuesday, Rural Baseball Inc. showed a bit of fatigue coming off a long weekend of baseball playing hosts at the Orzel Memorial Tournament as they allowed 13 runs in the ninth inning to lose 17-16 to the Kelso 18U team.
Tyler Nelson was one bright spot for the home team as he pitched six innings of relief for the Dirtbags and allowed no earned runs (one total) during the outing.
The Rural Baseball squad went up early with one run in the first inning, three in the second, and five in the sixth frame. After scoring two runs in each of the seventh and eighth innings the Dirtbags held a 13-4 lead heading into the final inning. AJ Volk had four hits and three runs scored hitting in the two-hole for Rural Baseball Inc., while Ben Woodrum had four hits out of the nine-hole. After catching five games over the weekend, including three on Sunday, Seth Butler caught all nine innings on Tuesday and added three hits and four runs to the Dirtbags’ effort.
In the ninth inning though the Dirtbags went off the rails. A grand slam by Tanner Davis was the straw broke the Dirtbags backs and the next batter was ceremoniously plunked before coming around to score what wound up being the game-winning run.
“It was more than a circus,” said RBI coach Jason Watson. “I’ve never really seen anything like it.”
Rural Baseball Inc. will play the Lower Columbia Baseball Club on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Mark Morris. Over the weekend the Dirtbags will be at the Hammertime Tournament in Vancouver beginning at 7 p.m. at Lois Bloch Stadium in Camas.
