League play is off to the start that Federal Way’s baseball team was hoping for after their 10-5 win over Mount Rainier on Tuesday.
The Rams got off to a quick start with two singles and a walk to load the bases in the top of the first. Jared Scott brought home two of the runners shortly thereafter, but he was tagged out in a rundown between first and second base.
After walking another batter, Federal Way turned a 6-3 double play to end the inning.
It didn’t take the Eagles long to answer with runs of their own.
Ben Koler started the bottom of the first off with a single, and Christian Jones drew a walk on his first plate appearance. Eddie Peraza moved them to second and third with a sacrifice bunt.
A wild pitch by Mount Rainier’s Scott allowed Koler to come home for Federal Way’s first run. Gabe Togia lined a ball to the shortstop, allowing Jones to score the second run and tie the game at 2-2.
The top of the second was left-handed pitcher Luke Tedrick’s time to shine. He struck out the first and third batters of the inning. The second batter hit a chopper directly into his glove for the easy putout at first.
Mount Rainier regained the lead in the third inning on a double by Scott, but the one run was all they could manage. Tedrick struck out three more batters, all swinging, in the inning.
The Eagles started the bottom of the third with three quick hits to load the bases. Peraza brought home Tyler Praven on a fielder’s choice that resulted in him reaching first.
With two runners still on base, Togia delivered a single to center field to score Koler. Dawson Bakker followed that with a double to the left-center field gap, scoring two more runs.
Federal Way led 6-3 after three innings.
Jake Gibbs’ home run to start the top of the fourth inning cut the lead back to two, but it didn’t faze Tedrich who struck out three more batters.
Federal Way added four more runs in the next three innings while shutting out the Rams’ offense in the fifth and the sixth.
Mount Rainier scored once more in the top of the seventh inning to bring the score to 10-5, but a 6-4-3 double play gave Federal Way the win.
“We’ve been talking about trying to get everybody to click on all cylinders: offense, defense and pitching,” said first-year Federal Way head coach Arlo Evasick. “Today the hitting was there, but this is probably the first time in six games the pitching and defense wasn’t quite as good. But if we’re giving up five in one-out-of-six, we’re going to be in a good spot.”
Togia, Peraza and Bakker all had two RBIs for the Eagles. Koler was 3-3 at the plate with one walk, and he scored four runs.
Tedrick gave up six hits, three walks and struck out eight batters.
The Eagles improved to 4-2 and 1-0 in league play with the win. They’ve put up double-digit run totals in three of their four wins, and their two losses each came by a run.
“We’re right in the games we’re losing, and the games we’re winning, we’re doing what we should,” Evasick said. “We’re 4-2, JV is [4-2]. One thing we talk about over and over is that it’s not varsity and JV, it’s a program. We swing guys back and forth a bit and try to help them understand that even if you’re the 12th guy on JV, you’re helping the varsity team.”
Federal Way defeated Mount Rainier 17-6 on Wednesday and 11-0 on Thursday to complete the series sweep.
The Eagles (6-2, 3-0) will take a week away from league play as they face Sumner (6-1) on Monday and Kentridge (6-4) on Wednesday. Both games are on the road at 4 p.m.
Jefferson pitchers combine for no-hitter
Thomas Jefferson pitchers Avery Cantino-Kennedy and Justin Maggerise combined for a seven-inning no-hitter against Decatur on Tuesday.
Cantino-Kennedy had 12 strikeouts in six innings pitched. He walked four batters.
Maggerise closed out the game, walking one batter.
Jefferson senior Blake Null picked up two RBIs to give Jefferson the lead in the sixth inning. The Raiders won 2-0.
