Walla Walla falls in both games, leaves tying runs aboard in final inning

MOSES LAKE — Big Bend's pitching staff just wanted the baseball Wednesday afternoon, head coach Donnie Lindgren said.

Walla Walla may have wanted them to hold onto it a little longer after leaving tying runs aboard in both games of a doubleheader at Big Bend Community College. The Vikings held on for a 7-6 win in the first game and fought off bases loaded in the top of the ninth of the twinbill for a 6-4 win over the Warriors.

Despite going down to the wire, Big Bend's pitching staff was able to stop a fired up Walla Walla baseball team.

"Our pitching staff has been solid all year and a few guys get on base on bloop hits and unfortunately, it happens," Lindgren said, recounting the game-ending drama.

Walla Walla tried to make runs happen late in both games, leaving runners in scoring position before the Vikings came up with final outs to put the series away. In the bottom of the ninth of the second game, Dan Hendrix struck out the first batter faced, then gave up a single to Patrick Cummings of Walla Walla, walked Josh Rogers and gave up an infield single to Jake Rogers to load the bases with one out.

Zach Danelson hit a long ball just foul down the right field line during the Warriors' next at bat, only to strike out and Tom Paulson followed with a flyball to center field for the final out of the game.

Aaron Fenter picked up the win for the Vikings after going seven innings, allowing three runs on three hits and striking out four during the game. He also hit five batters in the second game.

"Aaron is just a little wild and has some good velocity," Lindgren said about Fenter's success on the mound against Walla Walla.

Big Bend came off the first win with a run in the second inning of the twinbill. Cameron Iverson led off with a double down the left field line and scored on a Matt Brown single.

Walla Walla's Jake Rogers tied the game with a home run to left field off Fenter. The Warriors' Danelson was then hit by a pitch and Paulson moved him to second on a single to center field.

Kyle Green drove in the go-ahead run on a single to right field and Brian Asplund knocked in Paulson with a groundout to second base.

The Vikings started to cut into Walla Walla's lead in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI single from Rudy Valdez to score Brian Parker. Iverson tied the game in the seventh after getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Jordan Jaeger followed with a game-winning double down the right field line to score two runs and Iverson later scored on a third baseman throwing error for the 6-3 lead.

"(The) nice thing about this ball club is we our young but haven't panicked," Lindgren said. "They know someone else is going to pick them up."

The Vikings are now 4-2 in the Eastern Region and face Spokane on Saturday, April 9.