A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 2018
SPORTS
Hermiston goes 2-1 in Week 2 of season
Bulldogs play
Kamiakin,
Lakeridge and
Kennewick
By ALEXIS MANSANAREZ
STAFF WRITER
HERMISTON — If any-
one would have checked the
Hermiston baseball team’s
schedule early on the after-
noon of March 20 and late
into the evening, a matchup
versus the Mid-Columbia
Conference Kamiakin (WA)
Braves did not yet exist.
In fact, head coach Kevin
Moore found out about the
game by way of a call from
the athletic director at 1
p.m. Tuesday and later con-
firmed its existence during
class when one of his play-
ers brought up the late addi-
tion to the schedule.
But Moore couldn’t
complain.
“I would rather play
than practice,” he said
Wednesday.
In the Bulldogs’ season
opener last Saturday, Herm-
iston rallied and escaped
with a 6-5 victory. This
time, however, the Bulldogs
were on the losing end of a
one-run game falling 5-4 to
Kamiakin at Armand Larive
Middle School.
Kamiakin got out to a 5-0
lead in the top of the sec-
ond, but Hermiston quickly
answered to cut its deficit
to 5-4 after three innings of
play.
The Bulldogs didn’t let
the Braves add on to their
lead thanks to the work of
Wyatt Noland, who entered
the game in the third and
threw four shutout innings of
relief. Noland allowed only
one hit while striking out
five and walking three. His
performance was just one
of the positives Moore takes
away from Wednesday.
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Hermiston’s Joel Mendez steals second base as Lakeridge’s
Cameron Clayton waits for the ball in the Bulldogs’ 13-3 win
against the Pacers on Friday in Hermiston.
STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS
Hermiston pitcher Caden Schwirse throws from the mound
in the Bulldogs’ 13-3 win against Lakeridge on Friday in
Hermiston.
“We did a lot of good
things today,” Moore said
despite the loss. “You take
a look at the second inning,
we gave up five but it could
have been a lot worse.”
Brylee Dufloth started
on the mound for Hermis-
ton and got out of trouble
early in the first inning when
Kamiakin’s Payton Flynn
hit a line drive to right field
for the Braves’ third out that
left two runners stranded in
scoring position.
Hermiston went 1-2-3 in
the bottom of the inning to
bring the middle of Kami-
akin’s lineup to the plate,
and with it even runs to
take a lead it would never
relinquish.
The bases were loaded in
the second after two singles
and a walk. With no outs on
the board, Dufloth was in
trouble and made his first
mistake of the game.
A pitch hit Conner Banta
and advanced all runners to
give the Braves their first
score. Another walk and
another hit by pitch sent the
Braves around the bases to
take a 3-0 lead.
After Nolan Degarno
hit an RBI single to add to
Kamiakin’s lead, Hermiston
had a 5-2-3 double play to
help stop the bleeding.
Before a fly out to center
field to end the inning, Flynn
hit a grounder that was bob-
bled giving Degarno enough
time to score.
Despite letting five runs
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go, Moore was pleased with
the Bulldogs’ efforts.
“I stress defensive situa-
tions in practice and guess
what? Fly ball we communi-
cate and ground ball we get
a double play and we’re out
of the inning,” he said.
It wouldn’t take long for
Hermiston to add runs of its
own.
A walk with the bases
loaded in the bottom of the
second finally put the Bull-
dogs on the board, and three
more in the third gave Herm-
iston a chance at another
comeback win.
Daniel Gossler, Trevor
Wagner and Dustin Mad-
dox all contributed — Goss-
ler and Maddox each with an
RBI single and Wagner with
an RBI double.
“It was a team effort to
come back,” Moore said.
“We did a lot of good things,
but again we just need that
one hit to break the game
open and we almost had it.”
In the sixth inning, Herm-
iston’s Caden Schwirse
stepped up to the plate.
Schwirse was responsible
for a two-run RBI single
in Saturday’s win and was
close to another with run-
ners on first and second. But
Schwirse’s line drive went
straight to the left fielder to
end the inning.
In Wednesday’s game,
the Bulldogs fell behind
early and needed a come-
back to win but instead fell
just short.
“One thing I stressed was
to not dig ourselves into a
hole like we have the last
couple of games,” Moore
said.
On Friday afternoon’s
non-league game against
Lakeridge, Hermiston made
sure it wouldn’t need to
orchestrate a comeback to
earn a victory, scoring 13
runs in the first two innings
for an easy 13-3 victory.
Along with the runs, the
Bulldogs had the benefit of
a terrific outing from start-
ing pitcher Schwirse. The
senior right-hander gave up
just six hits and three runs in
five innings with two strike-
outs and one walk.
“Caden pitched to con-
tact and positive things hap-
pened,” Moore said.
Noland led the Bulldogs’
offense by going 2-for-4
with one run and one RBI.
Joey Gutierrez also had a
strong game going 1-for-3
with one run and two RBI,
while Joel Mendez scored
three runs and Landon Jones
scored twice.
Noland tied the game at
1-1 in the first inning with an
RBI single to right and the
Bulldogs took the lead when
Tolan and Noland scored on
a Lakeridge error.
One day removed from
its 13-3 victory over Laker-
idge, Hermiston went right
back to work on Satur-
day, and this time in better
conditions.
Under the afternoon sun
at Armand Larive Middle
School, the Bulldogs held
their own against a tough
opponent in the Kennewick
Lions, but came up short in
a 8-2 Lions’ victory.
“Kennewick capitalized
on our errors,” Moore said
of the loss. “When a team
gives you outs, you bet-
ter take advantage of it and
unfortunately that’s what
happened to us.”
After a scoreless open-
ing inning for both teams,
the Braves (5-1) got out to
an early lead in the second
when Kaleb Stevenson’s hit
grounded out for the team’s
second out but not before
Easton Stevens scored for
the 1-0 advantage.
The Bulldogs (2-2)
answered with two runs
of their own, a RBI sin-
gle off the bat of Dufloth
and a sacrifice fly from Jor-
dan Ramirez to bring home
Schwirse. However, Ken-
newick struck for two more
runs in the fourth and added
five more runs over the final
two frames to keep the Bull-
dogs away.
Noland, Gossler and
Dufloth all fared well at the
plate despite Hermiston’s
loss. All three batters went
2-for-3 and each notched at
least one single. Lukas Tolan
was given the loss after
going four innings allow-
ing three runs on seven hits
with a long strike out and
one walk.
The Bulldogs will return
to the diamond Thursday in
the Volcano Stadium Tour-
ney at Salem-Keizer Vol-
cano Stadium.
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