EPHRATA — The Ephrata Tiger Baseball Club (3-1) finished their second matchup of the season as they split a doubleheader with Sunnyside Christian Tuesday evening.  

“I was pleased with a lot of aspects of the doubleheader,” said Tigers Head Coach David Tempel. “The summertime is all about development and getting some experience. The good part about (Tuesday) is we were in some different situations that we haven’t seen much, so we were able to learn from those and use those to our advantage.” 

Sunnyside was the first on the board during game one as they put up two runs in the top of the second inning. The Tigers responded at the bottom of the third as they put up five runs to claim the lead.

After a scoreless fourth inning, Sunnyside scored a single run in the top of the fifth, but Ephrata extended their lead with three runs in the bottom of the inning. The game flipped in the sixth inning as Sunnyside scored six in the top of the inning to go up by one. 

In the top of the seventh, Sunnyside added one more run to their lead and with the Tigers being held scoreless, the game ended with an 8-10 loss for Ephrata. 

“I think we had too many freebies that led directly to some runs for (Sunnyside),” said Coach Tempel. 

Jaxson Uribe led the Tigers in hitting for game one with three runs batted in.  

For pitching Ephrata started Cale Fronsman on the mound where he allowed two hits, two runs and threw three strikeouts followed by Mayson Stredwick who allowed two hits, three runs and threw two strikeouts, Caleb Froewiss who allowed three hits, four runs and threw two strikeouts and Uribe who allowed one hit, one run and threw one strikeout. 

Ephrata started game two with a fresh mindset and scored five runs in the first inning with a single from Gabe Mack, a drawn walk from Clayton Wolther, a sacrifice fly from Cale Fonsman and a single from Uribe. 

The strong lead was extended in the bottom of the second with three additional runs while holding Sunnyside scoreless. The opposition didn’t score until the top of the fourth with two runs, but the Tigers responded with five runs of their own which would end the game in the top of the fifth inning on the 10-run rule in favor of Ephrata 13-2. 

The Tigers earned a total of 11 hits in game two with Mayson Stredwick leading the team with three RBIs. 

Mitchell Johnson started on the mound for Ephrata allowing one hit and one run over three innings while throwing three strikeouts. Ryan Tempel pitched relief where he allowed one hit and one run while throwing four strikeouts. 

“In game two we did a great job of minimizing those freebies and minimizing the damage,” said Coach Tempel. 

Overall, the coach said Ephrata’s greatest takeaway was having the players see the importance of pitchers throwing quality strikes and not giving teams extra outs. 

“The emphasis is on pitchers developing and pitchers getting ahead in counts and throwing lots of strikes,” he said. “When you throw lots of strikes, the ball is going to be put in play and usually you’re going to be okay on defense.” 

As the Tigers begin their summer games, their main goals revolve around ensuring the team has good quality bats and working towards a high-quality at-bat percentage. Pitching wise, it’ll be just continuing to develop their players on the mound to have the ball in play or the batter out in three pitches or less. 

Another aspect of the game Coach Tempel said he wants the team to work on this summer is ensuring they stay mentally strong while they enjoy the opportunity to play throughout the summer. 

“We’re not getting too high, we’re not getting too low; we’re learning from every pitch. We’re trying to win this next pitch,” said the coach. “We’re trying to keep it about baseball and most of all having some fun during the summer.” 

The Tigers Baseball Club consists of players of all high school age levels who are working together to develop over the summer. Some key team leaders for this season include Mitchell Johnson, Dayne Holland, Ryan Tempel, Jaxson Uribe and Andrew Rowlands. 

“I'm really excited about this group,” said Coach Tempel. “Kind of a great range of guys.” 

One aspect of summer ball that is particularly exciting for the coach is that the roster will constantly be shifting as players go on vacation or have other commitments. This means everyone on the team will get an opportunity to shine throughout the summer. 

This year, the Tigers Baseball Club is competing in The Tillage League with 17 other teams around the state, including the Almira/Coulee-Hartline Diamond Ducks. With a 20-game season scheduled, Coach Tempel said this is going to be a great season for delving deeper into player development. 

“During the school season, it’s so condensed that sometimes you don’t have the opportunity to really drill down on what some of these players need individually,” he said. “The summer gives us a great opportunity to develop guys and give them more game experience.” 

The Tigers next game is a home doubleheader Thursday against the Zillah Leopards with the first game starting at 5:30 p.m. 

BOX SCORES 

GAME ONE: 

SNNY: 0-2-0-0-1-6-1: 10 

EPHT: 0-0-5-0-3-0-0: 8 

GAME TWO: 

SNNY:0-0-0-2-0: 2  

EPHT: 5-3-0-5-x: 13 

ROSTER: 

Name, Jersey 

Andrew Rowlands, 4 

Cale Fronsman, 15 

Caleb Froewiss, 7 

Casten Iverson, 8 

Clayton Wolther, 13 

Collin Sullivan, 11 

David Malone, 10 

Dayne Holland, 1 

Deegan Klaus, 6 

Elijah St. Mary, 12 

Gabe Mack, 22 

Isaiah Davis, 19 

Jaxon Uribe, 2 

Mayson Stredwick, 14 

Mitchell Johson, 17 

Owen St. Mary, 5 

Peyton Bronowski, 9 

Ryan Tempel, 18 

    Ephrata’s Andrew Rowlands throws the ball back toward the diamond from the outfield, losing his hat and shades in the process.
  

    Ryan Tempel from the Tiger Baseball Club gets ahold of the ball and prepares to throw to third base for an out Tuesday evening.
  

    Tigers player Mayson Stredwick steps up to bat during Tuesday’s game against Sunnyside Christian.
  

    Caleb Froewiss from Ephrata prepares to walk toward first base after getting hit by a pitch while up to bat.
  

    Tigers player Mitchell Johnson sprints toward first base after connecting at-bat Tuesday evening.