Medical Lake baseball begins NEA play

It’s now all business for Medical Lake baseball following the conclusion of their 2023 pre-season with a 3-3 record.

The Cardinals used a doubleheader sweep of 2A Rogers of the Greater Spokane League as a final tune-up prior to the start of league play this week.

Medical Lake defeated Rogers 12-4 and 14-3 on March 21 at Holliday Field where head coach Austin Sharp got one final shot to tinker on a few things.

In the definition of playing “small ball” — the art of placing runners in key spots on base — Griffin Marshall had four RBIs but just one of only three hits for the Cardinals in the opener against Rogers.

“We only struck out five times, walked 10 times,” head coach Austin Sharp said. Combined with eight hit batters, the Cardinals tallied 18 “free bases” Sharp said.

Medical Lake scored five runs in their first at-bat and led 11-0 after three innings.

Freshman AJ Michaud got his second start of the season and pitched into the fifth inning before giving way to a relief pitchers Taylor Oliver and Luke Dickey.

“He just got a little tired,” Sharp said of Michaud who surrendered three runs in the fifth.

The second game, shortened to five innings due to the 10-run rule, had Michaud taking on a different role, that with the bat where he had a pair of hits and RBIs.

Again, Medical Lake struck early with a five-run first inning and the Cardinals ended it scoring six times in the bottom of the fourth.

In his grand experiment seeking more pitching, Sharp has chosen former catcher, Andrew Robertson, to become a reliever. But against Rogers, Robertson got the start.

Robertson gave up just two hits and a couple of walks. “It was productive to get him out there the first time,”Sharp said. “I think he will be able to jump in there during league and throw some relief innings for us this year.”

Oliver had a double, also knocking in two runs.

The Cardinals were to play at Newport March 28 to open Northeast A League play. However, there’s still snow on the Grizzlies’ field Sharp said so the game moved to Medical Lake.

Moving forward towards another possible post-season appearance, besides filling lineup spots from a limited roster, one critical thing concerns Sharp. “The big thing is we’ve got to stay healthy,” he said. “We’ve got (only) five guys with varsity experience.”

Medical Lake is at Riverside, Saturday, April 1 at noon for the first game of an NEA doubleheader. The Cardinals will host Reardan April 5 at 3 p.m. in a spring break non-league doubleheader starting at 2 p.m.

Paul Delaney is a retired Free Press Publishing reporter and can be reached at [email protected].