MOSES LAKE – The Central Washington Sixers had a busy weekend playing on the road against teams from all around Washington and Idaho. They played five games and won three to put their record at 27-7-1 as the end of the season nears.  

“Our current 16U team is going to move up and start playing at the 18U level,” said Trey Evans, the Sixers' 16U coach. “A lot of our guys are playing varsity baseball, and we want to keep them at the same level that they’re seeing in the high school season.” 

The Sixers' first game of the stretch was against Expos Duncan last Thursday where both teams went scoreless in the first three innings and then Expos Duncan earned six runs at the top of the fourth. Sixers would respond with two runs. 

The fifth inning had the Sixers score an additional two runs to make the score 4-6, but Expos Duncan would score three in the sixth and four in the seventh while holding the Sixers to zero runs scored to end the game with a 4-13 Sixers loss. 

“We didn’t quite have the focus and engagement that we usually have, and we came out a little flat and didn’t play our best baseball that day,” said Evans. “It was a little bit uncharacteristic for us.” 

The Sixers had a double header the following Friday against both Sandpoint and Washington Rush. Evans said he spoke with the players after Thursday’s game and discussed what they can do to improve moving forward. 

“It took a talk after the game of realizing why we lost that game and it was because we couldn’t control the controllables which is attitude, effort, focus and the engagement side in the dugout and on the field,” he said. “So, we had a pretty long talk about that and how we can fix it, and our boys did a really good job of bouncing back and making those adjustments and changes for the Friday game.” 

Game one on Friday started with the Sixers facing Sandpoint. This time the Sixers got on the board early with Jonathan Purcell, Cooper Vasquez and Aaden Montes each scoring a run in the first inning.  

The Sixers would then move on to add two runs in the third with Purcell doubling down the right field lane to make the score 5-0. The Sixers would hold their opponent to zero runs until the bottom of the seventh inning where Sandpoint would get off one run before the game ended in a 5-1 victory for the Sixers. 

Friday’s second game against Washington Rush had a slower start with neither team scoring until the bottom of the fourth when Washington Rush put up a single run. The Sixers responded in the top of the sixth inning with six runs, with the biggest blow coming from the hit by Purcell which drove in two. Washington Rush put up two more runs in the bottom of the sixth, but this game would end 6-3 in favor of the Sixers. 

“The boys played really well both of those games,” said Evans. “It was good to see them bounce back and be able to play to their ability and not let the outside factors determine the rest of the weekend.” 

On Saturday, the Sixers faced WBA 16U Teal in a game that would come down to the wire. The Sixers would be the first on the board with a single run in the bottom of the fourth, and each team would score one run each in both the fifth and sixth innings.  

In the top of the seventh inning, WBA scored one run to tie the game at 3-3 before the Sixers got the opportunity to win in the bottom of the seventh. The Sixers would earn a walk-off victory with a single hit by Maddox Herrud to give the game the final score of 4-3. 

Evans said the Sixers pitchers played a vital role in the victory, with Ernie Weeks starting on the mound, where he gave up only six hits and two runs while striking out four and walking three over six innings. Weeks would be followed by Darian Barr, who in the final inning, allowed two hits and one run while striking out one and walking none. 

“Ernie Weeks, he threw a heck of a game, competes in the zone with three separate pitches, and he’s just an ultra-competitor,” he said. 

The Sixers went into Sunday’s game against RCA 16U with confidence as they were in a good situation both in terms of pitching and batting from the prior games. 

“Unfortunately, we didn’t communicate the best, which caused some uncharacteristic errors that ended up kind of getting us in the end,” said Evans. “Definitely gave away some opportunities that would have had that game going a different direction.” 

RCA would get on the board first, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning. The Sixers responded with a run in the top of the second and another in the top of the fourth to tie the game 2-2. 

In the fifth inning, the Sixers would gain the lead with a single by Jacoby Tait, and RCA would respond with three runs in the bottom of the inning. The Sixers earned themselves three at the top of the sixth with RCA scoring a run at the bottom of the inning to tie the game at 6-6. 

The Sixers would take the lead one final time with a run in the top of the seventh, but RCA would follow up with two runs to win the game 7-8. 

“I think from this weekend we learned that you have to be able to control the controllables,” said Evans. “It’s the lack of communication and just understanding you have to buy into your role, and you have to do your role really well.” 

Evans said the Sixers 16U team has done a lot of travelling the past couple weeks, going from cities on the west side of the state like Seattle and even travelling east to Lewiston, Idaho. 

“I think our guys, growing up, did a lot of travelling and they played a lot of baseball, and with this group they’re just major competitors,” said Evans. “It doesn’t seem to faze them where we travel or where we’re going, they’re going to show well.” 

The summer season is ending for the 16U team, but they still have one more tournament coming up this weekend in Seattle. It will be a 16U invitational with the Sixers’ first game taking place today at 5 p.m. against New Level Hetherington 15U.  

Box Scores: 

THURSDAY 

EXPS: 0-0-0-6-0-3-4: 13
SXRS: 0-0-0-2-2-0-0: 4 

FRIDAY GAME 1 

SXRS: 3-0-2-0-0-0-0: 5
SNDP: 0-0-0-0-0-0-1: 1 

FRIDAY GAME 2 

SXRS: 0-0-0-0-0-6-0: 6
WSHN: 0-0-0-1-0-2-0: 3 

SATURDAY 

WB16: 0-0-0-0-1-1-1: 3
SXRS: 0-0-0-1-1-1-1: 4 

SUNDAY 

SXRS: 0-1-0-1-1-3-1: 7
RC16: 2-0-0-0-3-1-2: 8 

    Central Washington Sixers 16U player Cooper Vasquez swings at the ball during the team’s tournament over the weekend. Vasquez earned three runs batted in throughout the weekend.
  

    Earnie Weeks from the Central Washington Sixers swings at a pitch during last weekend’s games. On top of batting, Weeks had success pitching against WBA 16U Teal where he struck out four over six innings.