Mt. Si keeps Eastlake at bay in close baseball game
The Eastlake Wolves fell short to the Mt. Si Wildcats during a home game on Wednesday, April 24, despite a late-game rally that gave fans some hopes of a comeback.
The Wildcats came out aggressively with a line-drive that put Jimmy Pratapas on first base. A long shot into the outfield put Jacob Flores safely on base while Pratapas made it home safely for the first run of the game. Adding to the excitement, Mt. Si’s Kenny Russell continued the hitting streak with another safe at bat that drove in Flores for a second RBI and a second run for the Wildcats.
Not to be outdone, the Wolves answered back immediately with a double from Thomas Wood. Before the inning closed, Grady Woodward added another double to bring in two runs, nicely padding his stats with two RBIs for a 2-2 tie.
The rally continued for the Wildcats in the second inning with hits from Tate Swanson and Eddie Coons. Swanson was credited with the RBI that batted in Coons from third and gave Mt. Si the lead at 3-2.
Keeping themselves in the game, Eastlake bats answered again in the bottom of the second. A hit from Ryan Chung sent runner Kade Haroldsen to third base and scoring position. Dominic Miller connected to bring Haroldsen home and kept the score tied at 3-3.
But the top of the third belonged to the Mt. Si lineup. Bats that started hot were now on fire. The Wildcats smacked back with hits from Flores and Tucker Koval at the bottom of the batting order. The heat continued when the top of the order brought Pratapas to the plate, followed by hits from Coons, Clayton Cook and Matthew Talbot for an additional four runs.
Eastlake was unable to reciprocate, and the score remained 7-3 with the Wildcats on top until the bottom of the seventh.
With just three outs remaining in the game, Eastlake attempted a comeback rally when Wood connected for a single. Kenny Russell added another hit for the Wolves, sending Wood to third. Rodrigo Montano’s next at bat brought Wood across the plate for a score of 7-4.
Ryan Chung did his part with a single as well. Cody O’Donnell’s at bat brought Chung in and added an RBI to his stats.
But in the end, it just was not enough. Mt. Si took down Eastlake with a final score of 7-5.
Despite the outcome, this loss did not impact the Wolves’ post-season hopes, as they were already set to advance to the playoffs. With their win over Newport two days later, Eastlake currently has a 13-7 record.
The Eastlake varsity baseball team has a home, non-conference game on Saturday, May 4 at 4:00 p.m. against Glacier Peak.
