Cardinal baseball crew work out the winter kinks

They were games of firsts for the Medical Lake baseball crew last week, when they notched both their first win and first loss in NEA league play in games against visiting Newport and Riverside.

Newport vs. Medical Lake

It was a Bennett Soliday sacrifice fly in the seventh inning that gave the Cardinals their first win of the season on Thursday, March 28 in a Northeast A League play against visiting Newport.

“It was ugly baseball early,” head coach Austin Sharp said of the many missed fly balls and dropped or missed throws.

But ugly is as ugly does, and in the end it’s what you do with it that counts.

Seth “Big Cat” Mayer started on the mound for the Cards, giving up a run apiece in the first two innings, followed by a three-run third.

The Cards answered back with one run apiece in the second and third innings.

With the score 5-2 Grizzlies going into the fourth, the Newport bats went quiet in a defensive inning. Weston Thomas relieved Mayer in the bottom of the inning and would go on to pitch a no-run game for the win.

Ugly turned to not-so-ugly in the fifth, when the Card bats came alive and they never looked back. Holding the Grizzlies at bay in the top of the inning, the Cards came back in the bottom to bring in two runners to close the scoring gap, followed by runs in the sixth and seventh innings — including the Soliday sacrifice — for a 6-5 win.

Thomas pitched four innings with only two hits, no runs and seven strikeouts. Mayer had six hits, five runs — two earned — and three strikeouts.

Offensively, Joe Oliver had a single hit in four at-bats and two runs.

All of the Card runs were brought in on RBIs, including two by Mayer and Nick Thompson and single RBIs by Brent Keith and Thomas.

Riverside vs. Medical Lake

Things weren’t so sweet in the Cards’ third game of the season against the visiting Riverside Rams in Saturday’s NEA game when they were unable to bring home runners in scoring position.

Sam Gollehon started on the mound, getting through three no-hit innings, shutting down the Rams offense with runners in scoring position in each inning.

A defensive game to start, both teams managed a strong offensive effort in the third with both teams scoring three runs.

“Our defense and pitching finished out those innings,” Sharp said.

But neither were the Cards able to score in the first three, even with their own players in scoring position.

It was a no-score game going into the fourth, when the Rams brought in three runs. Thomas took over on the mound to close the top half of the fourth.

The Cards were able to answer back with three of their own runs in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game.

With Thomas on the mound in the top of the fifth, and runners at first and third, the Rams hit a triple into deep right centerfield, bringing in the two runners. But due to a Cardinal overthrow error the batter was also able to score, giving Riverside a 5-3 lead.

The Cards where unable to answer back for the remainder of the game, even with bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the fifth.

“We just couldn’t get a run in,” Sharp said.

There were two opportunities in the seventh. Baseball being a game of inches, the first two Card at bats both nailed shots into outfield gaps, but the Rams center fielder managed to snag them both.

“He’s good. He does that to us,” Sharp said.

In the end it was the Cardinals inability to get runners in scoring position in to score.

“We had tons of opportunities to get runners in from second or third, but just couldn’t get it done,” Sharp said of the 5-3 loss. “That was the difference in the game.”

Brent Keith hit two doubles, and is leading the Cards in hitting with three doubles for the season and is hitting .500.

The Cards lost their first league game and second overall for a 1-3 record going into spring break play.

Gollehon threw five hits for three earned runs, walked three and struckout six batters. Thomas had two hits and two earned runs, and three walks and strikeouts.

Offensively, the Cards made 29 trips to the plate but managed only three runs on six hits.

Lee Hughes can be reached at [email protected].