Friday Harbor baseball team ousts Orting; earns state tourney berth


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SPORTS - FRIDAY HARBOR BASEBALL 2008

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Friday Harbor baseball team advances to elite eight in state

Story and photos by Matt Pranger

posted 05/17/2008
Friday Harbor topped Connell 4-1 today, May 17 to advance to a regional final in the Class 1A State Baseball Tournament. The Wolverines next play at 4 p.m. today at Moses Lake's Larson Playfields against the winner of a game between Freeman and Warden.

Richie Ochoa struck out 13 for the Wolverines, walked none and scattered seven hits. Connell scored their run on an error.

The Wolverines out-hit the Eagles 11-7. Michael Knowles went3-for-4, drove in a run and scored twice. Jordan Nash singled, doubled and had an RBI. Ochoa rapped two base hits. Albert Strasser, Parker Lawson, Justin James and Michael Sandifer each smacked singles.

Nathan Eppich singled and doubled for the Eagles and Ethan Dillan had two base hits.

Friday Harbor went up 3-0 in the top of the third inning. Sandifer led off with a single. One out later Jordan Nash ripped a double off the right field wall and Sandifer scored on a throwing error. Knowles singled home Nash. Ochoa smashed the ball to the left-center fence. Knowles scored on Albert Strasser's sacrifice fly.

Strasser, a junior and veteran catcher, left the game in the bottom of the inning after dislocating a thumb during warm-ups. Freshman Alex Jangard moved from second to catcher and freshman Tanner Buck went to second.

Friday Harbor added a run in the fifth inning. Knowles hit a one-out single, went to second on a balk, took third on a wild pitch and scored on a balk.

Connell scored their run in the sixth inning. Wes Jenks hit a one-out base hit and went to third on a single by Eppich. He scored on an error.

The Wolverines committed an uncharacteristic five errors in the game but also made some outstanding defensive stops.

The Eagles should have had baserunners on first and second with one out in the fifth but Wolverine right fielder Eddie Nash, after a bloop single, snagged the ball on the hop and rifled it to Buck at second, hanging up the lead runner.

Buck turned in two other gems. With one out and runners on first and third in the sixth, Buck lost the ball in the searing sun but recovered with a basket catch. Noe Marroquin's led off the bottom of the seventh with a single. Dillon sharply hit the ball between first and second but Buck dove for it, popped up and gunned it to Lawson at first. Ochoa fanned the last two Eagles.