The sun made a guest appearance this afternoon after a morning of rain and uncertainty if the JV-Varsity doubleheader would get played. Fresh off a rainy blowout loss the day before, the Bulldogs looked to bounce back with a win. Nathan Hale was just back from spring break, having a whole week off from Metro 3A league games.
Hayes Gorecki got the start for the Varsity Bulldogs and pitched 4 strong innings, allowing only 4 hits and 1 run. The game was scoreless until the 4th inning when the visiting Raiders were able to string together a few hits to get a run across. The Raiders would successfully execute a squeeze play bunt off Garfield reliever Owen Vickrey and tacked on another run later in the 5th and 6th innings for a 4-0 lead. A single by Joe Renner in the 6th was able to advance on a Hale throwing error and then score on a Hank Droege sacrifice fly. Hayes Gorecki led off the final inning with a single and would later score on a Ricky Nakamura sacrifice fly. Nakamura would finish 2 for 2 on the afternoon with a RBI. The tying run came to the plate in the 7th with 2 outs, but the Bulldogs came up short with the game ending on a strikeout.
Justin Arkills-McLain misjudged a fly ball off the bat of the leadoff hitter in right field, but recovered nicely to hose the runner out while taking too big of a turn around 2nd base. The overall defensive effort was good enough to win, as was the pitching. Hale has a fundamentally solid ballclub that took care of business late in the game today. Their slightly slower than average pitching kept the Bulldogs off-guard as they only recorded 4 base hits for the day.
Both sides were able to use many of their players in an effort to keep them sharp for the final stretch of conference play that lays ahead in the next 2 weeks as both teams fight for a playoff spot. The game and intensity were tight throughout, but the lack of offense was what hurt the Bulldogs the most in the end. “It was too little, too late,” one player remarked after the ballgame.
The JV Bulldogs defeated Nathan Hale 10-5 earlier in the afternoon. Henry Freed got off to a rocky start on the mound, but was able to settle down after the 1st inning. Duncan Skerrett came on in relief in his most efficient outing of the year with 4 innings pitched without allowing an earned run. Ben Koerner hit a triple over the left fielder’s head and finished his day with 3 hits before being called up to Varsity to make his Varsity debut for an inning behind the plate at catcher. Several other Bulldogs players had solid line drives in the game as the offense was consistent throughout the ballgame, which is something that has been lacking from the recent JV games.
Varsity is now 7-9 overall, 4-7 in conference play. Our back is up against the wall in this final stretch as we have to win one game at a time to stay alive in the playoff hunt. The competition is good, but also pretty evenly matched throughout the conference. The Varsity team plays Roosevelt at Lower Woodland Park on Monday afternoon, while JV (4-10, 1-9) plays Roosevelt at home in another battle of Seattle schools.
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