Sean Coffey doubled home the go-ahead runs for Walla Walla Community College in the bottom of the sixth inning, as the Warriors rallied to open their season with a 7-5 victory over Prairie Baseball Academy in the first game of a non-league baseball doubleheader here on Saturday.
But in the second game, Prairie reliever Duncan Elgert pitched four no-hit innings to salvage a split of the twin bill with a 3-1 decision.
With two games now under their belt, the Warriors (1-1 record) will go to Blue Mountain for a Northwest Athletic Conference East divison doublheader on Monday, starting at 11:00am.
“It was great to get out and compete again against someone other than ourselves,” WWCC coach Dave Meliah said. “Prairie is always a high quality opponent with a great program.
“I thought our guys competed well in the first game,” Meliah continued. “We came back from a couple of deficits to find a way to win. Caleb Burnham threw well and Brayde Hirai did a great job of pounding the zone and shutting the door.
“Sean Coffey had a good game at the plate and had the huge two-run double in the sixth to give us the lead.”
Coffey’s two-bagger capped a three-run rally after the Warriors had trailed, 5-3, going into the bottom of the sixth.
Three straight singles by Devon Roe, Cooper Larson and Dimick Wood led off the inning and loaded the bases. Then with one out, Danny Robertson drove home Roe on a sacrific fly before Coffey doubled two more runs for WWCC’s first lead of the season.
Hirai pitched the rest of the game for Walla Walla, retiring 12 of the 13 batters her faced — the only blemish being a walk.
But Prairie came back to jump on the Warriors in the nightcap, scoring a run in the top of the first inning and two more in the second.
Walla Walla finally got on the board in the fourth inning, with Larson and Justin Macdonald hitting back-to-back doubles, but the Warriors failed to stratch out another hit the rest of the game.
“We must learn from our mistakes in the second game,” Meliah said. “We didn’t do a good enough job of staying focused and being ready mentally and physically in-between games. That is something that we will work to get better at.
“Our pitchers gave us a chance to win but offensively we didn’t do enough.”
First Game
Prairie Academy100031000—585
Walla Walla10020301x—7121
Gilespie, McGregor (7) and Abbott. Burnham, Kaelber (5), Hirai (7) and Wood.
HR — none.
Hits — Prairie Academy: Davies 2, Arnold 2, Wells, Leblanc, Buck, Ankerman. Walla Walla: Coffey 3, O’Rourke 2, Garza 2, Martin, Roe, Larson, Wood, Lafontaine.
Second Game
Prairie Academy120000000—361
Walla Walla000100000—120
Fisher, Logan (6), Elgert (6) and Semeniuk. Washburn, O’Rourke (5), Oldham (8), Ogata (9) and Lester, Musick (9).
HR — Prairie: Vaselemak.
Hits — Prairie Academy: Vaselemak 2, Ewaniuk, Buck, Arnold, Wells. Walla Walla: Larson, Macdonald.
Union Bulletin
