Chiefs Baseball gets first league victories
Bob Kirkpatrick | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 12 years, 6 months AGO
YAKIMA - It's taken 16 games for the Chiefs to rack up their initial league win.
But Moses Lake baseball got the monkey off its back in fine fashion with a twin killing over the Cadets Tuesday.
"It's feels good to finally get our first league wins," coach Quintz Whitaker said. "We've now qualified for the sixth and final seed in the up coming district tournament."
Moses Lake 15
Eisenhower 7
Game one of the doubleheader was scoreless the first two innings. The Chiefs bats woke up in the top of the third however, as they hung three runs on the board.
The Cadets answered back with three in their half of the inning to tie the game 3-3. Eisenhower took its first lead 4-3 with a run in the bottom of the fourth.
The home team made it 6-3 with two in the fifth inning. But a 12 run sixth for the Chiefs blew the game wide open as they retook the lead 15-6. Eisenhower added a run in the bottom of the inning to get within eight, 15-7. Neither team scored in the seventh inning.
Moses Lake out hit Eisenhower 14 to 11. The Chiefs and the Cadet committed six errors each.
Chase Tunstall went the distance for the win for Moses Lake.
"Chase started the season out on the JV squad," Whitaker said. "He's now turned into the most solid pitcher on the team.'
Moses Lake 12
Eisenhower 8
The second game of the twin bill was a bit more competitive as the Chiefs got by the Cadets by four runs.
Moses Lake hitters remained hot as the team raced out to a 5-0 lead after its first at bat. The Chiefs pushed the lead to 9-0 as they brought a runner across the plate in the second inning and three in the third.
Eisenhower made a game of it with four runs in the bottom of the fourth and one in the fifth to close the gap to 9-5.
Moses Lake answered back with two runs in the sixth and one in the seventh inning to stretch the lead to 12-5. The Cadets hung three runs on the board in the bottom of the inning, but dropped the game 12-8. Eisenhower had 13 hits to the Chiefs 14, but five errors was the nemesis for the Cadets.
"It was good to see us jump out front in both games." Whitaker said. "We've been pretty strong swinging the bats all season long, but we still need to work on our fielding and pitching to be able to make a run in the playoff's."
Jason Gonzalez got the win for Moses Lake.
The victories improve the Chiefs to 2-8 in the Big Nine Conference, and 6-12 overall.
Moses Lake ends the regular season on the road Friday with a doubleheader against Chiawana.
If the Chiefs sweep the Riverhawks, they can move up to the fifth seed. If they split or lose both, they remain as the sixth seed.
No matter the outcome, Moses Lake will play a loser out game May 1. Neither the team nor the site of the game is known at this time.
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