Two big innings from Lower Columbia was too much for the Chokers to overcome as Grays Harbor fell 9-1 to the Red Devils on Thursday at Olympic Stadium in Hoquiam.
Grays Harbor (1-17, 1-2 NWAC West) struggled offensively and couldn’t muster a comeback when Lower Columbia (16-6, 2-1) strung together some hits and took advantage of two errors to go up 4-0.
The Chokers went to the bullpen and brought in Kai Mueronen in relief of starter Justin Barber to get out of a jam in the sixth inning.
Mueronen pitched out of the bases loaded jam in the sixth, but fell victim to the long ball in the following frame when he surrendered a a three-run home run to Colin Floyd.
Grays Harbor head coach Mark Bruner said the score should have been closer considering the teams had similar hit totals.
“We’re just trying to get better everyday. Right now, we’re doing that but we had the inning where we gave up the four spot and the error kind of opened that up,” he said. “They had 10 hits and we had nine, but their’s were coming with guys in scoring position.”
Despite the lopsided final score, Bruner found a reason to be positive about the pitching performances of Barber and Mueronen.
Bruner gave Barber credit for escaping the sixth inning without allowing any inherited base runners to score and noted that Barber started most at-bats with a first-pitch strike.
“Barber stayed ahead and when you pitch ahead you’re going to keep batters guessing. He was doing really well with strike one and forcing contact early in counts to where the batter’s not dialed in,” he said. “If you can force contact early in the count and pitch ahead, it’s definitely an advantage.”
Runs were at a premium for the Chokers, who managed to scratch across a run in the bottom of the third.
An error, a single and a bunt allowed Devin Burleigh to drive in a run with a ground ball to the right side of the infield for Grays Harbor’s lone run of the day.
Bruner said he would like to manufacture runs in the fashion his team did in the fourth inning, but noted that his team will need to keep games close for the strategy to be viable.
“We’re just going to be playing a scrappy version of baseball. If we can play that type of baseball where we’re in a game where we can do that, that’s great,” he said. “But we have to stay close and be in positions where we can play that type of baseball.”
Grays Harbor will be back in action when they take on Tacoma on the road at 1 p.m. today. The two-game road trip will conclude with a game at Centralia on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Though his team has struggled at points this season, Bruner said team confidence is actually on the rise.
“I think they’re starting to realize we can play with anybody if we’re playing our best baseball,” he said. “That’s when you can convince a team to believe in themselves. Then you can get something going.”
Lower Columbia 004 000 320 – 9 10 1
Grays Harbor 001 000 000 – 1 9 2
WP – Kaden Vanderwerf (5.2 IP, 0 ER, 2 K); LP – (5.2 IP, 2 BB, 0 ER, 2 K)
Top Hitters – Lower Columbia Floyd (4 RBI, 3R HR), Noah Andrews (3-5, 2 RBI); Grays Harbor – Burleigh (1-2, RBI, 2 BB)
