U-Hi flies past Eagles
University’s baseball battery was fully charged in leading the Titans to a 6-4 victory over West Valley in an important Greater Spokane League game Thursday.
But while pitcher Adam Smith and catcher Kenny VanSickle sparked the Titans’ road victory, the Eagles were culpable in their demise.
VanSickle went 3 for 4 while driving in three runs – one in the first inning with an opposite-field single to left, the winning two with a base hit yanked between second base and shortstop.
Smith was sharp on the mound. He scattered five hits and struck out 11 with a mixture of breaking pitches and fastballs, both for strikes.
Meanwhile, his counterpart, WV lefty Greg Bradley, struggled with command and control. But the Eagles also lacked defensive support, committing six errors, and offered minimal offensive help.
“They did the things they needed to do,” said Eagles coach Don O’Neal of the Titans. “But we definitely didn’t have one of our best showings.”
The win moved U-Hi (8-2) past WV (6-2) into second place in the GSL. The two teams meet again today at U-Hi to complete their home-and-home series.
The Titans, with their new-look batting order, jumped on Bradley early, the first three runners reaching base and scoring. VanSickle plated the first run, and sophomore Tyler Olson singled in two more.
VanSickle’s fourth-inning hit to make the score 5-1 came immediately following a two-out Eagles error. He also blooped a single in the sixth to set up U-Hi’s final run.
“None of them were scorchers,” the senior catcher said. “As the coaches say, the baseball gods were on my side today.”
Smith, meanwhile, was tough. He silenced the top five hitters in the order. WV’s three sixth-inning runs resulted from two Titans infield errors and Casey Sherrill’s second single of the game.
“Smith must have done something right because our hitters were just baffled,” O’Neal said.
Smith said the key was his ability to throw his breaking pitch for a strike that set up his fastball.
“I was thinking, ‘Get ahead, throw strikes and let my defense do its job,’” he said.
The wholesale change in U-Hi’s batting order produced nine hits which, coupled with a couple of costly Eagles errors, proved enough.
“We told them the first time a pitch is in the zone to be aggressive and get after it,” said Titans coach Don Ressa. “And it was our best guy (pitcher) against their best guy, and our best guy was a little better today. But that’s a good team and we’re going to have to play well to beat them again.”
Other GSL games
Two seventh-inning walks with two already on base lifted Mead (6-2) to a 9-8 win over visiting East Valley (4-6). Connor Moore was 2 for 4 with three RBIs for Mead. EV’s Mark Lengyel went 3 for 3 with two doubles. … Ryan Richardson improved to 4-0 as North Central (7-3) notched a 12-3 win over visiting Rogers (2-6). Boone Plager went 3 for 4, doubled twice and scored three times to lead NC’s 11-hit attack. Freshman Jacob Campbell had two hits, including a home run, for Rogers. … Alex Banderas pitched 3 2/3 innings of shutout relief, striking out five, and Central Valley (5-5) scored six runs in the fourth inning of a 7-4 home victory over Shadle Park (1-7). Josh Soltan had a two-run single in the decisive inning. Andrew Roginski was 3 for 4 for Shadle. … Ben Seebeck pitched six shutout innings and Brennan Houbrick doubled twice in Lewis and Clark’s (4-4) 7-2 win at Cheney (0-10). Zalen Schoenhuth had both Cheney hits and drove in both runs in the bottom of the seventh.