WWCC rides a pair of big innings to 8-4 and 10-4 baseball wins in Pendleton.
PENDLETON — A pair of big innings, one in each game, proved the difference and lifted Walla Walla Community College to 8-4 and then 10-4 victories over Blue Mountain in a non-league baseball doubleheader here on Monday.
The Warriors (3-1 overall) took the opener after snapping a 4-4 tie with four runs in the top of the seventh inning. Kealen Martin’s bases-loaded single with no outs plated the first two runs and put them on top for good.
WWCC then put together a four-run third inning for a 5-1 lead in the nightcap, and with the aid of seven walks and two hit-batmen, led the rest of the way to a sweep.
“I thought we did a pretty good job of producing runs in different ways today,” Warriors coach Dave Meliah said. “We had a bunch of HBPs and bases-on-balls to go along with executing with runners in scoring position.”
WWCC remains home when it returns to action, hosting both Green River and Treasure Valley on Saturday. The Warriors take on Green River at 10 a.m., and then Treasure Valley at 4 p.m.
In between, around 1 p.m., Green River and Treasure Valley will square off.
Here at Blue Mountain, Walla Walla leadoff hitter Sean Coffey finished Monday’s doublheader with three singles, two walks and five runs scored in his 10 plate appearances. No. 2-man Brian O’Rourke went 3-for-6 with a homer and four runs batted in. He also scored four runs, walked once and was hit by a pitch three times.
O’Rourke homered in the second inning of the opener, plating Coffey for a short-lived 4-1 lead.
Teammate Kealen Martin, WWCC’s No. 3 hitter who finished the day 2-for-9 with four RBIs, belted a two-run homer in the eighth inning of the night cap to drive home Coffey for a 9-3 lead as the Warriors bounced back from a doubleheader split with Prairie Baseball Academy in the season opener on Saturday.
WWCC had started the season with a 7-5 win in the first game against Prairie, but then mustered only two hits to finish the day with a 3-1 loss.
“We learned from our last games and really improved on our focus in-between games and getting ready for the second game of the day,” Meliah said. “It showed in how we played.”
WWCC pitchers made their leads stand.
Austin Haughton started the first game for WWCC and went four innings, limiting Blue Mountain to one run despite four hits and four walks.
Blue Mountain touched up Warrior reliver Jax Evanhus for three runs in his two innings, taking advantage of two walks and a hit batsman. And Sebastian Elu then walked his first batter, but retired the last nine in a row to pin down the win.
In the nightcap, four Walla Walla pitchers combined for only one walk and one hit batter.
Mike Peterson worked the first four innings, and Dimick Wood followed with the next three before Brady Childs and Wyatt Baldwin took turns closing out the sweep.
“Our pitchers had way too many walks in the first game,” Meliah said. “Our defense bailed them out with some nice plays a few times. We did a much better job of attacking the strike zone in game two.”
First Game
Walla Walla220000400—880
Blue Mountain010012000—450
Haughton, Evenhus (5), Elu (7) and Wood. Connolly, Harding (6), Johnson (7), Wolters (7), Wolters (7), Severance (7), Wayenberg (8) and Cantonwine.
HR — WW: O’Rourke.
Hits — WW: Coffey 2, O’Rourke 2, K. Martin, Garza, Roe, Lafontaine. BM: Durflinger 2, Cantonwine 2, Broom.
Second Game
Walla Walla014100121—10111
Blue Mountain100002010—4103
Peterson, Wood (5), Childs (8), Baldwin (9) and Musick. Root, Green (5), Makinster (7), Gritz (8), Enriquez (9) and Durflinger.
HR — WW: Martin.
Hits — WW: Macdonald 2, Musick 2, Loftus 2, Coffey, O’Rourke, K. Martin, Larson, C. Martin. BM: Broom 3, Hughee 2, Sexton 2, Saxton 2, Cantonwide.
Union Bulletin
