Baseball: Cruisers edge Washington for first win

After dropping their first two games of the season, the Eatonville Cruiser baseball team used a bit of late-inning heroics to grab its first win on Friday at Washington High School.

The Cruisers jumped on the Patriots early as they scored four runs in the top of the first inning and two more in the second to take a 6-0 lead before the Patriots pushed one run across in the bottom of the second.

Both teams traded punches before the Patriots tied the game up in the bottom of the fifth inning with eight runs apiece.

In the top of the final inning and with two outs, Cruiser Owen Archer singled to put the go-ahead run aboard. Keith Smith then singled, and Archer advanced to third base. Smith stole second during the next at-bat to put runners at second and third. Michael Stogsdill then hit a soft ground ball to the first baseman, who mishandled the ball and ultimately dropped it as he was heading to first base, allowing Stogsdill to be safe and Archer to score with the go-ahead run.

Cooper Field, who came on in relief in the bottom of the fourth inning, got a strikeout and a couple of fly outs to seal the victory for the Cruisers.

Field picked up the win for the Cruisers. He pitched three and a third innings, giving up one run on no hits, walking three, and striking out four.

That win is not only the Cruisers’ first of the season, but it is also new coach Doug Fillbach's first win as head coach at Eatonville. Fillbach took over for Mike Moeller after he stepped down at the end of last season.

Opening the season at Franklin Pierce High School on Tuesday last week, the Cruisers fell behind early and could not dig their way back as they fell 10-6 to the Cardinals.

Will Sepich led the Cruisers with three hits, going 3-4 at the plate with two singles and a double.

Payton Hanly got the start on the mound for the Cruisers and got tagged with the loss. Hanly pitched three and two-thirds innings and gave up five runs on six hits while striking out four and walking two.

Looking to bounce back from the season-opening loss, the Cruisers hosted their rivals, the Orting Cardinals on Wednesday.

Again, the Cruisers fell behind early in the game and only managed two hits on three runs before the Cardinals claimed a 13-2 victory in a five-inning mercy rule-shortened game.

Stogsdill led the Cruisers with a couple of hits. He went 2-2 at the plate with a single and double and drove in a run.

Brody Thirtyacre was credited with the loss for Eatonville. He pitched three innings and gave up six runs on five hits, walked four batters and struck out two.

EATONVILLE 9, WASHINGTON 8

Eatonville     4 2 0 2 0 0 1    9 9 4

Washington   0 1 2 4 1 0 0    8 5 2

PITCHING: P. Hanly - 2.0IP, 0H, 1R, 1BB, 4K. O. Archer – 1.2IP, 6R, 5H, 1BB, 3K. C. Field – 3.1IP, 0R, 1H, 3BB, 4K.

HIGHLIGHTS: K. Smith 3-5, 3B, 2R, 2SB. P. Hanly 2-5, 2B, 3R, RBI, 4SB. C. Field 1-3, 2RBI.

ORTING 13, EATONVILLE 2

Eatonville    0 2 0 0 0 X X   13 8 0

Orting              3 1 1 1 7 X X     2 3 3

PITCHING: B. Thirtyacre 3.0IP, 5H, 6R, 4BB, 2K. C. Herbrand 1.2IP, 2H, 7R, 5BB, 2K. J. Suver .1IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 0K.

HIGHLIGHTS: M. Stogsdill 2-2 with a single, double and an RBI. C. Field 1-2 with a double and a run scored.

FRANKLIN PIERCE 10, EATONVILLE 6

Eatonville   0 0 0 1 2 3 0    6   7  4

Pierce     0 1 0 4 4 1 X  10 10 2

PITCHING: P. Hanly 3.2IP, 6 H, 5R, 2BB, 4K. M. Stogsdill .1IP, 0H, 2R, 3BB. O. Archer 2.0IP, 4H, 3R, 1BB, 3K.

HIGHLIGHTS: W. Sepich 3-4 with two singles and a double. C. Field 2-4 with two singles and an RBI. M. Stogsdill 1-1 with a single and an RBI. K. Smith 1-3 with a single and two runs scored.