MOSES LAKE — Walla Walla Community College rode a four-run seventh inning to a 9-3 victory over Big Bend in NWAACC East Region play here Wednesday.
But the Vikings pulled out the split when they scored a run in the bottom of the ninth of the nightcap for a 6-5 win.
Jesse Houser started the opener for the Warriors, going six innings before A.J. Carkner finished off the victory. Carkner came into the bottom of the seventh inning with the bases loaded and no outs, and induced a double play and flyout to end the inning with just one Viking run.
J.J. Robinson’s lead-off home run in the fifth tied the game at 2-all, and Corey Morris’ RBI single gave WWCC a 3-2 lead it never relinguished.
“Jesse (Houser) had his typical game on the mound where he starts out a little slow and then gets going,” Warrior coach Dave Meliah said. “A.J. (Carkner) did a great job of coming in and closing the door in a tough spot.
“We had some clutch two-out hits by Corey (Morris), Clayten (Ayres) and Trevor (Jones) to help us extend the lead.”
In the nightcap, Jarod Gonzales and Robinson had back-to-back home runs in the fifth as the Warriors took a 4-0 lead, but Big Bend plated two in the sixth, three in the eighth and the game-winner in the ninth to pull out the split.
“We played a really sound game until the eighth,” Meliah said. “We had a couple of mental and physical mistakes to let them back in the game. You can’t run the clock out in baseball, you have to get every last out and, unfortunately, we didn’t do that.
“We have to keep our heads up and move forward.”
The Warriors are now 24-8 overall, 15-7 in the NWAACC East Region, and play at Blue Mountain Saturday afternoon.
