PORT ANGELES — For five games, Wilder Baseball did all the little things at the Senior Babe Ruth Pacific Northwest Regional Tournament.
In Sunday afternoon’s championship game at a sun-drenched Civic Field, it took just one big hit to dash Wilder’s dreams of its first 18U World Series appearance in 24 years.
Portland Baseball got a clutch two-run home run from Brock Pellow in the top of the sixth inning and a dazzling pitching performance from Tanner Kichler to top Wilder 4-1 for the regional championship.
The win locked up Portland’s third regional crown in four years, while also continuing a long trend of Wilder (17-10 overall) heartbreaks in the regional championship.
The area 16-18-year-old all-star squad, which beat Toyota Bash of King County 3-2 in Sunday morning’s first semifinal, has lost nine of the past 10 games it has played in the regional finals.
“We’ve come a long way,” Wilder coach Rob Merritt said following the season-ending loss.
“If you would have saw us at the start [when the team started 0-5], these guys put in the time and the effort. Once we got everyone together and everybody was healthy, we really put it together.
“We brought this club a long way, and they were six outs away from getting to a World Series, and it just didn’t happen.”
Indeed, Pellow’s blast over the right-field fence brought Portland back from a 1-0 deficit against Wilder starter A.J. Konopaski.
The way Kichler was throwing Sunday, striking out seven while surrendering just two hits, three walks and one run, that turned out to be enough.
Portland added another two runs in the top of the seventh off Wilder reliever Cole Uvila, but the damage had already been done.
Rally falls short
Kichler retired the first two batters in the bottom of the seventh.
Then after hitting Brian Senf and giving up a single to Derek Crain, the 6-foot-5 right-hander got an assist from Phil Belding, who came up with a diving stab of Cody Sullivan’s line drive to right field to seal the win.
“That guy out there, you’ve got to tip your cap to him,” Merritt said of Kichler, a future St. Mary’s University product.
“He was 87 [mph] all night long and had a good [curveball]. It was really tough to get anything going. That’s what happens when you get to this level. It’s pretty much pitching and defense and timely hitting.”
As it was, Merritt got six strong innings from Konopaski.
The right-hander pitched out of numerous jams, including a bases-loaded pickle in the second inning, to keep Portland scoreless through five innings,
Much like in Wilder’s 6-1 pool-play victory over Portland on Thursday — when it stranded 11 runners — the Oregon club failed to capitalize on its early opportunities.
It wasn’t until Pellow jumped all over Konopaski’s first-pitch fastball in the sixth that Portland got on the board after stranding six runners through the first five innings.
“I just threw a fastball too high and he took advantage of it,” said Konopaski, who will play for Pacific Lutheran University next year.
“He just turned on it good. He must have been sitting on it, and he put a good stroke into it. I’ve got to hand it to him.
“But that’s a tough way to lose.”
Konopaski struck out three while giving up seven hits, two walks and two earned runs over six innings.
Yet he appeared to run out of gas in that final frame after also going one inning for a save in Sunday’s semifinal against Toyota Bash.
“I wish I could have saved A.J. the game before [in the semifinals],” Merritt said. “He probably would have gave us an extra inning or two, but we’ve got to get here [to the final].
“I was not going to pull him up 1-0, I just wasn’t going to do it. I’ve just been with him for so long.”
Wilder scored its lone run of the game on an error by the shortstop off a sharply hit ground ball from Easton Napiontek with runners on first and second in the third inning.
Other than that, only Napiontek and Crain were able to come up with hits against Kichler.
And both of those came after the fifth frame.
“The guy just hit his spots well,” Konopaski said.
“He had a good fastball. It was pretty straight, but he worked ahead a lot in counts. That’s a great pitcher that we faced, and I’m sure they were saving him for that game.”
Semifinal win
Sullivan started and finished Wilder’s semifinal win over Toyota Bash with a couple of exclamation points, first with his bat, then with his glove.
In between, he kept the Toyota batters off balance as he tossed six innings of five-hit baseball for the win with two earned runs, two walks and three strikeouts.
“I was just focusing on throwing strikes and letting them hit the ball,” said Sullivan, whose only two walks came back to back in the fifth inning.
“My defense did a great job. Derek [Crain] made an awesome catch [in center field]. [Isaac] Yamamoto made a great play [at shortstop]. Brian [Senf] made a great catch in [right field.]”
All of that would have been for naught if Sullivan hadn’t come up with a pair of big two-strike hits.
The first came on the opening at bat of the game, when the recent Port Angeles graduate smashed a 1-2 curveball from Toyota starter Dan Eck over the left-field fence for a solo home run.
The second came after Toyota tied the game at 2-all in the bottom of the sixth inning with a two-out RBI single from Jacob Holmes.
Again down 1-2 in the count with a runner on second — Senf led off the top of the seventh with a single, then advanced on Crain’s sacrifice bunt — Sullivan ripped a base hit up the middle off reliever Corey Brown for his second RBI.
“I knew it was a close game and I just needed a solid base hit up the middle,” Sullivan (3-for-4) said of his game-winning hit.
“I had a runner on second, so I just tried to put good barrel on it. I took a few swings, just barely missing and just finally squared one up.”
Konopaski made the 3-2 lead stand up in the bottom of the seventh, striking out two, walking one and getting a dramatic catch from Sullivan near the right center field fence to end it.
Still, the win ended up being bittersweet for Sullivan and Konopaski, two of seven players who finished their Wilder career Sunday.
The other departing seniors include Senf, Yamamoto, Crain, Ryan Aumock and Kyler Morgan.
“You always want to win, and I really feel like we could have won that game [against Portland],” Konopaski said.
“Obviously that one pitch [to Pellow] hurt, but that’s the way it works sometimes.
“I’m really proud of these guys. This is the best Wilder team I’ve ever played for. I really love those guys.”
Semifinals
Wilder 3, Toyota Bash 2
Wilder 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 — 3 8 1
Toyota 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 — 2 5 1
WP- Sullivan; LP- Eck; S- A.J. Konopaski
Pitching Statistics
Wilder: Sullivan 6IP, 3K 5H, 2BB, 2ER; A.J. Konopaski IP, 2K, BB.
Toyota: Eck 6.1IP, 4K, 7H, BB, HBP, 3ER; Brown 0.2IP, H.
Hitting Statistics
Wilder: Sullivan 3-4 (HR, 2RBI, R); Yamamoto 2-3 (RBI); Crain 1-2 (Sac Bunt); Senf 1-3 (R).
Toyota: Holmes 2-3 (RBI); Gilbert 1-3 (RBI); Foor 1-3 (R); Smith 1-3 (R).
Portland 4, Wilder 1
Portland 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 — 4 9 2
Wilder 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 — 1 2 0
WP- Kichler; LP- A.J. Konopaski
Pitching Statistics
Portland: Kichler 7IP, 7K, 2H, 3BB, R, 0ER, HBP.
Wilder: Konopaski 6IP, 3K, 7H, 2BB, 2ER; Uvila IP, K, 2H, BB, 2ER.
Hitting Statistics
Portland: Smith 2-4 (R, 2B); Van Atta 2-3 (RBI, SacFly); Pellow 2-3 (HR, 2RBI); Thran 1-4 (R, SB).
Wilder: Napiontek 1-3; Crain 1-3; Senf 0-2 (R, HBP).