The Bellevue Bulldogs traveled to Everett to battle against the EvCC Trojans on Saturday, April 23. The double header between both of the teams were vital to the standings in the North division of the NWAC conference.

It was a nasty day in Everett, with rain threatening the whole time, and even a short down pour in the second game of the double header. The game was back and forth the whole way between the two juggernauts of the North, with several lead changes.

EvCC jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, with three hits driving in both of the runners. The Bulldogs battled back with two runs of their own to tie the game back up in the top of the fourth inning.

The game was 3-3 going into the top of the sixth inning, when Joe Wainhouse for the Bulldogs, blasted a HR ball to deep right field hitting the second wall just before leaving the entire ball park. That HR put Bellevue in the lead 5-3 at a critical point of the game.

With the theme of the game, the Trojans answered back scoring three runs in the bottom half of the same inning. Leading the charge for EvCC was Andrew Ivelia going 2-4 in the game with two clutch RBI’s powering the run. With those three runs, the Trojans never looked back, winning the game 6-5.

The Bulldogs threatened the Trojans in the top of the eighth inning loading the bases with only one out. However, EvCC pulled off a close, but clutch double play to end the inning. That play kept the Trojans in the lead at an important point of the game.

After the game, Ivelia explained what was clicking for him. “ (I) Started to see the ball better, they have some good arms, just got to battle at the plate and played good as a team in the first game,” he said.

Another player for the Trojans who excelled in the first game was freshman Joshua Mcintyre. He was 2-4 himself with a walk adding to his stats. Mcintyre was also great as a baserunner for EvCC, stealing a base and causing havoc for pitchers trying to keep an eye on him. Mcintyre stated after the game, “When you’re in the zone as an athlete, it is really fun to be out there, because every hit that adds up it just turns to gold for you.”

The next game for the Trojans was not be a fun one. Pitcher Dominic DeMiero for the Bulldogs struck  out 13 batters, handcuffing the EvCC offense.

EvCC tied up the game at 2 in the fourth inning, but the Trojans would not score another run the rest of the game. Meanwhile, Bellevue added four more runs to win the game decisively 6-2. There was no offense at all for the Trojans in the second game, which was completely different from the first.

Assistant Coach Cody Atkinson thought that the poor offense from his team was very uncharacteristic. Atkinson also made sure to give credit where it was due and said the pitcher pitched an outstanding game. Atkinson mentioned that in all eight innings of offense in the first game, they had runners on base for each of them. In the second game, a lot of the innings didn’t even feature a base runner for most of them.

Atkinson added that the Trojans will just have to come ready to play the next day against the Bulldogs when they travel to Bellevue’s home field on Sunday, April 24. The split with Bellevue put the Trojans at 7-4 in league play, with an overall record of 24-7 for the season.