The Trojans won their fifth straight contest in game one of their doubleheader against Spokane on Saturday, taking the contest 9-2.
Following a 1-2-3 first inning featuring two strikeouts by Everett starting pitcher Wyatt Queen, the Trojans took an early lead on a two RBI double by sophomore infielder Carson Burns.
The second and third innings would see twelve batters up and twelve down, but things picked up again in the top of the fourth.
The Sasquatch lead off batter reached on a walk, and was immediately thrown out stealing second after sliding past the base due to the wet turf being extra slippery.
The same could not be said for the next two batters, who reached base on a single and an error respectively, and would soon find themselves on second and third thanks to stolen bases of their own. A single and a sacrifice fly would plate a run apiece for Spokane and tie the game at two.
Queen posted zeroes in the fifth and sixth innings, keeping his offense in the game.
The right-hander said his mentality entering the game was to trust catcher Nate Davis and Pitching Coach Colby Nealy, throw strikes and get outs.
“Today I didn’t have my best stuff, but my curveball and my fastball were definitely my best out pitches today,” Queen said.
The Trojans offense would break the game open in a big way in the bottom of the sixth, just in time to get Queen the winning decision, as he was the pitcher of record at the time.
A new Spokane pitcher took the mound to start the inning, and was immediately relieved following a hit by pitch, a single and a walk.
With the bases loaded and nobody out, freshman second baseman Micah Coleman jumped on the first pitch he saw and ripped a bases clearing double down the third base line for three RBIs and a 5-2 Everett lead.
“Just looking to do damage on the first pitch I could,” Coleman said. “Just trying to do whatever I can to help the team win.”
Three more consecutive walks plated another run, and still with nobody out, shortstop Jonah Shull drove a double off the wall for two more runs. All told, Everett scored seven runs on three hits and left one man on base in the sixth.
From there, Mason Devinney took the mound for the Trojans and pitched three shutout innings to secure the win, with Head Coach Keith Hessler deploying just two pitchers along the way.
“It saves our bullpen for tomorrow,” Hessler said. “Our starters have done a great job of going deep so far, especially early in the year when they’re on limited pitch counts.”
Game two got off to an interesting start when, with one out, a comebacker hit Trojans starter Callum Young in the leg. He recovered and threw to first, but an error by first baseman Keaton Fisher allowed the batter to reach base.
Spokane went on to take the lead on a double steal play where, with runners on first and third, the runner from first drew a throw to second from the catcher, and while he had the defense’s attention, the runner from third scored the game’s first unearned run.
Three batters into the home half of the first, Everett tied the game in a much more straightforward manner on a solidly hit RBI single from Davis, who saw himself move up three spots in the batting order compared to last weekend.
“He had a really good weekend last weekend, put together some really good at-bats,” Hessler said. “He’s a weapon at the plate, so we decided to move him up a little bit.”
Unfortunately, that would be the last of the good news for Everett in game two.
Young worked out of trouble to keep the game tied through the fifth, but the southpaw again found himself in an error-induced jam in the sixth, and with one out he was lifted for freshman righty Blake Sandvik.
Sandvik made it halfway out of the jam with a looking strikeout, but back-to-back two out RBI singles scored two more unearned runs to put Spokane on top for good.
Spokane scored an insurance run in the seventh on a wild pitch, but it ultimately wasn’t necessary, as the Everett offense couldn’t get anything going.
As inevitable as it was that the team would eventually take a loss, in Hessler’s opinion, it didn’t have to be this game.
“It’s kinda been our MO this year, not playing clean defense,” Hessler said. “In all reality we could have won that game 1-0 if we played clean defense.
“We’re hitting fine, we’re pitching fine, we’re just not fielding like we should be. Without clean defense we’re pretty much starting in a hole every game.”
The Trojans’ offensive struggles continued into Sunday’s games, as Everett was shut out 5-0 in game one and took a 6-3 loss in game two, collecting just six total hits on the day.
The last three games have been a far cry from the dominance the team displayed over its first five games. Hessler attributed the change in pace to both internal and external factors.
“Credit to their staff,” Hessler said. “Spokane’s pitching staff was really good, I was really impressed by them. In order to win in this league you gotta be able to hit guys like that, so we have a lot of work to do on that.”
Ultimately, getting back on track will come down to the Trojans’ own performance, not that of their opponent.
“I don’t think we played hard today, and that starts with me,” Hessler said. “That starts with the coaching staff holding them accountable, it starts with them holding each other accountable.”
