EPHRATA — Wilder Baseball had a no-hitter, a home run and a tie game during its third-place finish at the High Desert Classic.
The Senior Babe Ruth team of players from Port Angeles and Sequim overcame a rough first day to finish the weekend with a 4-1-1 record at the site of next month’s state championship.
“It was good. We got familiar with the field and the complex,” Wilder coach Mike Politika said.
“It gave the kids an opportunity to experience this side of the mountains, which is good, [and] hot weather.
“It will help get us ready and prepared for state.”
Curan Bradley threw Wilder’s no-hitter Sunday morning against Lewis and Clark Legion of Spokane.
Bradley struck out seven and walked five in Wilder’s 9-0 win in five innings.
“He was in control the whole game,” Politika said.
“He had a handful of walks, and he extended his outing with his extra walks, but for the most part, he dominated them.”
Bradley pitched the first four innings with the weight of the game on his shoulders.
Wilder scored once in the first inning and the score remained 1-0 until the bottom of the fourth when the offense exploded for eight runs.
Bradley shut down Lewis and Clark in the fifth to put the tournament’s eight-run rule into effect.
Evan Hurn tripled and drove in two runs for Wilder, and Dusty Bates tripled, drove in a run and scored a run.
Zach Withrow doubled and scored a run, Larsson Chapman scored a run and drove in another and James Grubb had a run and an RBI.
In the third-place game later Sunday, Wilder again faced Lewis and Clark. And again Wilder pounded the Spokane team, this time winning 9-1 in another eight-run-rule, five-inning game.
Grubb and Brady Shimko combined for a two-hitter for Wilder.
Grubb started and allowed no hits, walked three and struck out four in two innings.
The 15-year-old Shimko pitched relieved Grubb and in innings fanned four and walked two while allowing two hits and a run.
Shimko also contributed offensively with a hit, a walk and two runs.
Wilder finished with nine hits in the win. Travis Paynter had two of those, including a double, and scored twice and drove in one run.
Chapman had an RBI double in the first and finished with a run and two RBIs.
Tanner Gochnour also doubled and had a run and an RBI, while Ricky Crawford doubled, drove in a run and scored twice.
Two Saturday wins
Eathen Boyer had the home run for Wilder.
His solo shot cleared the fence in Wilder’s first game Saturday, a 4-0 win over the Central Washington Baseball Club Hawks of Yakima.
Boyer finished with two RBIs in the game. Bates, Brady Konopaski, Tanner Rhodefer, Grubb and Shimko also had hits.
Wilder starter Travis Paynter kept the Hawks grounded, striking out six and walking only one batter to earn the complete-game two-hit shutout.
“He dominated,” Politika said. “He sat them down in order in five of the seven innings.”
In its second game Saturday, Wilder’s offense and solid pitching by Janson Pederson and Konopaski were enough to overcome five errors in a 9-5 win over the River Bandits of Moses Lake.
Wilder’s bats racked up 12 hits, including two apiece from Evan Hurn, Withrow and Grubb. Hurn scored three runs and tripled, Grubb drove in three runs and Withrow scored twice and had two RBIs.
Rhodefer scored once and brought in two runs, Bates drove in a run and scored one, Boyer doubled, Gochnour and Paynter each had a hit and a run and Bradley had one hit.
Pederson allowed five runs and five hits in five innings. Three of those runs were earned. He also struck out three and walked only one.
The River Bandits scored only two runs through five innings before tagging Pederson for three runs in the sixth to close the gap to 8-5.
Konopaski relieved Pederson in the seventh inning. He struck out one and allowed two hits while holding the River Bandits scoreless.
Frustrating Friday
Bates was the only Wilder player to hit safely in all six games of the tournament.
That included the only two hits in a 4-0 loss to the Columbia Basin River Dogs in Wilder’s tournament opener.
“Two lonely hits,” Politika said, “by the same guy.
“Very lackluster performance on the offensive side, for sure. Not a lot going on.”
Pitcher Rhodefer had a valiant effort against the host River Dogs, a team Wilder will likely see again in the state tournament that runs July 13-15.
Rhodefer allowed six hits and four runs in six innings, striking out two and walking four.
One run came in the first and three were scored in the sixth inning. In between, Rhodefer was flawless, retiring 13 in a row from the end of the first inning through the end of the fifth.
He ran into trouble in the sixth, giving up five hits and three runs.
Wilder followed that loss by playing Lakeside Recovery to a 6-6 tie Friday night in a game that was called after eight innings.
Wilder’s offense rallied from a 5-1 deficit with two runs in the sixth and three runs in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings.
“Our bats came alive in that game,” Politika said. “From the fourth inning on, we started getting some hits.”
Boyer brought in both runs with a double in the sixth inning, cutting Lakeside’s lead to 5-3.
Lakeside added a run in its half of the seventh inning to extend its advantage to 6-3.
Hurn and Withrow led off the Wilder seventh with doubles, Withrow’s two-bagger scoring Hurn to make it 6-4.
Pederson grounded out to move Withrow to third, and Rhodefer’s pinch-hit double brought Withrow home.
Bradley sacrificed Rhodefer to third to move the tying run 60 feet from home plate with two outs.
Lakeside then intentionally walked Bates to put runners on the corners with Konopaski at the plate.
Konopaski was unable to get a hit, but a wild pitch during his at-bat scored Rhodefer to even the score at 6-6.
Wilder and Lakeside Recovery will have a chance to break the tie, as well as their split doubleheader earlier this month, when they face off Thursday for a nine-inning game at Issaquah High School.
Withrow was 3 for 3 in Saturday’s game with a run and an RBI.
After this Thursday’s game against Lakeside Recovery, Wilder will host Blaze Baseball Select of Bremerton for a doubleheader Saturday, and then play a road doubleheader against Blaze on Sunday.
