SPOKANE — Kealen Martin and Dimick Wood combined to hit three home runs for WWCC’s baseball team in the second game of a doubleheader, but Spokane came back to hand the Warriors a 8-6 loss and complete a sweep in Northwest Athletic Conference East Region action here on Wednesday.
The first-place Sasquatch had rallied to take the first game, 9-6.
“These were two back-and-forth hard fought games,” Warriors coach Dave Meliah said. “We played hard, but just came up a little short.”
WWCC (13-11 overall, 4-6 in the East) came in tied for third place, three games back of Spokane, but slipped to fifth.
The Warriors will look to bounce back when they host seventh-place Wenatchee Valley for a doubleheader on Sunday starting at 1 p.m.
WWCC appeared in strong position to close in on the regional leaders at Spokane, but lost leads late.
After the Sasquatch had jumped ahead in the first game with a five-run second inning, WWCC came back with a pair of runs in the fourth and four more in the fifth to go up 6-5.
But Spokane tied things up in the bottom of the fifth inning, and then a Jermaine Ducham seventh inning double put the Sasquatch on top for good.
Looking to salvage a split with the nightcap, WWCC took a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning. Martin had hit his first homer, a solo shot, in the fifth.
The second game would become something of a home run derby.
WWCC took a four-run lead into the bottom of the sixth inning, but came away facing a 5-4 deficit after Christian Padilla’s two-out grand slam for Spokane.
Martin then led off the seventh inning with his second homer, and Wood soon ripped a bases-empty shot to put WWCC back on top at 6-5. But Spokane’s Mitch Dean tied it back up with a solo blast in the home half of the seventh.
Justin Lutz then put Spokane on top for good with a two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth.
First game
Walla Walla000240000—673
Spokane05001030x—9125
Haughton, Peterson (5), Ogata (7) and Lester. Guiberson, Frey (5), Grytdal (8) and Olson.
HR — none.
Hits — WWCC: Coffey 2, Larson 2, Smith, Robinson, Lafontaine. Spo: Brenneman 3, Fritts 2, Ducham 2, Olson 2, Padilla, Lutz, Dean.
Second game
Walla Walla000211200—6111
Spokane00000512x—8132
Hirai, Oldham (6), Baldwin (7), O’Rourke (8) and Wood. Wagner, Dietrich (5) and Harrington (8) and Olson.
HR — WWCC: Martin 2, Wood. Spokane: Padilla, Lutz, Dean.
Hits — WWCC: Martin 3, Wood 2, Lafontaine 2, Coffey, O’Rourke, Macdonald, Robinson. Spo: Padilla 4, Fritts 2, Dean 2, Olson 2, Vandervert, Lutz, Brenneman.
Union Bulletin
