Pierce left-hander Colten Barnes and Walla Walla righty Griffin Davis restored order — and then some — Sunday afternoon at sunny Warriors Field out on Tausick Way.
The Warriors rallied from an early 6-0 deficit to defeat the Raiders 11-10 in the first game of a non-league baseball doubleheader between Northwest Athletic Conference foes. But Barnes and Davis would have none of that in the nightcap.
Barnes, a 6-foot-3 freshman out of Curtis High School in University Place, Wash., checked the Warriors on three harmless singles and pitched Pierce to a 2-0 victory. He struck out five and didn’t walk a batter.
WWCC’s Davis, a 6-4 freshman out of Spokane’s Ferris High, was nearly as good, allowing five hits, striking out a pair and also issuing no walks in the seven-inning contest. But Davis’ effort was thwarted in the top of the seventh inning when Pierce designated hitter Ryan Kahana slugged a solo home run and Gunnar Schubert knocked in a second run later in the inning via a fielder’s choice.
It was the second doubleheader split in as many days for WWCC. Walla Walla opened its 2015 campaign Saturday by defeating Prairie Baseball Academy 12-0 in the first game of a home twin bill before dropping the second game 4-3.
Pierce also split games for the second straight day. The Raiders defeated Columbia Basin 7-4 in the first game of a twin bill Saturday in Pasco but lost the second game to the Hawks 5-0.
“Griffin threw a heck of a game for us,” Warriors coach Dave Meliah said of Davis’ performance. “It was a shame to waste that outing by really doing nothing on offense.”
Cody Price, Clayten Ayres and Ryan Riepman produced WWCC’s only base hits in the game.
The first game was altogether different as Pierce pounded out 15 hits, including three doubles, and the Warriors countered with four doubles and a triple to highlight a 14-hit attack.
The Raiders jumped on WWCC starting pitcher Jake Simmons, a freshman right-hander, for nine hits and six runs over the first three innings. Connor Morfin entered in the fourth and checked Pierce on five hits and one earned run over four frames before handing off to Talon Derrick, who allowed two runs in the ninth but garnered the victory when WWCC broke a 10-10 tie with a single run in the bottom of the ninth.
“Connor Morfin did a great job of coming in and stopping the bleeding,” Meliah said. “He gave our hitters a chance to get back in the ball game.
“It was nice to get rewarded for a come-from-behind effort,” Meliah added. “We had some huge two-out hits in the fifth and eighth innings. I love the competitiveness.”
Steven Sordahl socked two doubles and a single, drove in one run and scored four times for WWCC in the first game. Michael Kilpatrick tripled, doubled and drove home two runs and Dylan Wilbert doubled, singled and scored once. Jarod Paul had two singles and an RBI.
Pierce’s Leo Valenti drove in three runs with a double and a single, Hunter Redinger singled twice and collected four RBIs, Andrew Barnes had a pair of base hits and one RBI and Matt Thompson added two hits and one ribbie.
