FISH THRASH GULLS IN COWAPA BASEBALL OPENER
Good baseball teams have a knack for turning the oppositions minor cuts into gaping wounds.
The Astoria Fishermen did plenty of bloodletting Tuesday, turning extra baserunners and extra outs into a pile of runs in a dominating 15-2 slashing at Seaside in the Cowapa League baseball opener for both teams.
Adam Koehnke went 3-for-3 with two doubles and four runs batted in and Jordan Poyer went 2-for-3 at the plate with two RBI's and three runs scored, combining with starting pitcher Matt Brause on a 5-inning no-hitter. Ten different Fishermen players either had a hit or a run scored in a dominating performance.
"We hit about four or five balls so badly they were base hits," said Astoria head coach Dave Gasser. "We had a few swingin' stinkies that just dropped in, but I thought we also hit some pretty nice line drives with men on base and got some crooked numbers."
While the Fishermen scored in each of the first three innings, including a ten-run third inning in which 17 batters came to the plate, Matt Brause breezed through the first four innings on the way to his second victory of the season.
"I'll be honest with you," said Gasser. "The first three and two thirds is as good as Matt's pitched. That was lights out. I do not care who he was facing today. He was throwing three pitches well. That's as tough as he's been. He was ready to go and while we were scoring runs, they were having a tough time just putting a bat on the ball."
The Gulls also had a tough time putting the ball in the glove and pitching the ball over the plate, with five errors leading to ten unearned runs and eight Fishermen reaching base via walks and hit batsmen.
"I don't even know what to say about a 15-2 game," said Seagulls head coach Joel Dierickx. "And it was no game after the third inning. Astoria's a great team and that's something our kids knew and expected. But, sometimes, even with experienced players like we have, you tighten up a little bit in those type of situations. I felt we handed Astoria way too many of those opportunities in the first and third innings."
Koehnke cleared the bases with a line drive double to the right-center field gap to give the Fishermen a 4-0 lead in the first inning after Poyer's high pop-up to shallow left field dropped in safely to score Tom Jawarski with the first run of the game.
Up 5-0 going into the third inning after Jawarski's second-inning sacrifice fly, the Fishermen blew the game open in the third, opening the inning with a routine pop fly to the infield that was dropped for an error. That opened the floodgates for an inning that featured seven hits, two hit batters and four Seagulls errors, ending starting pitcher Sal Oros' night.
Oros was the last Cowapa League pitcher to record a victory over the Fishermen, before Astoria rattled off 18 straight victories on the way to the state 3A championship last season. It's likely that some of the players remembered that game.
"I think the kids remembered that," said Gasser. "They are pretty familiar with how we played in that doubleheader last year. I'm just really happy that we came out and got a 'W' to start league."
Koehnke, who had two hits and scored twice in the third inning, continues to make the most of an everyday opportunity to start.
"It feels good," said the senior leftfielder. "I've been hitting pretty good, carrying over from last summer."
The Gulls scratched out their two runs in the fifth after Brause ran into control problems. The senior hurler wavered with his usually impeccable command after fielding Mitch De Gandi's dribbler to the right of the mound for the second out in the fourth inning. After walking Ben Christianson on four pitches, Brause ended the inning by fanning Ross Knutsen looking on a 2-2 curveball. The Gulls loaded the bases with nobody out in the fifth on a 4-pitch leadoff walk to Mark Thysell, followed by a hit batter and catcher's interference. Jon Giztavich forced in Thysell with a bases loaded free pass to end Brause's night.
"He said something kind of popped in his hip," said Gasser. "At that point, we didn't want his pitch count to go very high. When he got to 70, there was no reason to keep him out there."
Poyer recorded the final three outs, yielding a sacrifice fly to Will Beatty before recording the final two outs on strikeouts. Every player for both teams batted in the game.
The Fishermen and Gulls bring their act to Astoria's Aiken Field on Thursday for a 5:00 p.m. rematch. Astoria has won five straight games to improve to 5-3, while the Gulls dropped to 4-5 with the loss.
ASTORIA 4-1-10-0-0 15-11-3
SEASIDE 0-0-0-0-2 2-0-5
WP-Brause (4+ip, 0h, 2r, 1er, 5k, 4bb, hp, wp)
LP-Oros (2.2 ip, 10h, 15r, 5er, 3k, 3bb, 2hp)
E-Davis, Landwehr, Jawarski, Oros, Giztavich, De Gandi 2, Carlson. LOB-Astoria 7, Seaside 6. 2B-Koehnke 2. SF-Jawarski, Beatty. DP-Seaside 1.
The Astoria Fishermen did plenty of bloodletting Tuesday, turning extra baserunners and extra outs into a pile of runs in a dominating 15-2 slashing at Seaside in the Cowapa League baseball opener for both teams.
Adam Koehnke went 3-for-3 with two doubles and four runs batted in and Jordan Poyer went 2-for-3 at the plate with two RBI's and three runs scored, combining with starting pitcher Matt Brause on a 5-inning no-hitter. Ten different Fishermen players either had a hit or a run scored in a dominating performance.
"We hit about four or five balls so badly they were base hits," said Astoria head coach Dave Gasser. "We had a few swingin' stinkies that just dropped in, but I thought we also hit some pretty nice line drives with men on base and got some crooked numbers."
While the Fishermen scored in each of the first three innings, including a ten-run third inning in which 17 batters came to the plate, Matt Brause breezed through the first four innings on the way to his second victory of the season.
"I'll be honest with you," said Gasser. "The first three and two thirds is as good as Matt's pitched. That was lights out. I do not care who he was facing today. He was throwing three pitches well. That's as tough as he's been. He was ready to go and while we were scoring runs, they were having a tough time just putting a bat on the ball."
The Gulls also had a tough time putting the ball in the glove and pitching the ball over the plate, with five errors leading to ten unearned runs and eight Fishermen reaching base via walks and hit batsmen.
"I don't even know what to say about a 15-2 game," said Seagulls head coach Joel Dierickx. "And it was no game after the third inning. Astoria's a great team and that's something our kids knew and expected. But, sometimes, even with experienced players like we have, you tighten up a little bit in those type of situations. I felt we handed Astoria way too many of those opportunities in the first and third innings."
Koehnke cleared the bases with a line drive double to the right-center field gap to give the Fishermen a 4-0 lead in the first inning after Poyer's high pop-up to shallow left field dropped in safely to score Tom Jawarski with the first run of the game.
Up 5-0 going into the third inning after Jawarski's second-inning sacrifice fly, the Fishermen blew the game open in the third, opening the inning with a routine pop fly to the infield that was dropped for an error. That opened the floodgates for an inning that featured seven hits, two hit batters and four Seagulls errors, ending starting pitcher Sal Oros' night.
Oros was the last Cowapa League pitcher to record a victory over the Fishermen, before Astoria rattled off 18 straight victories on the way to the state 3A championship last season. It's likely that some of the players remembered that game.
"I think the kids remembered that," said Gasser. "They are pretty familiar with how we played in that doubleheader last year. I'm just really happy that we came out and got a 'W' to start league."
Koehnke, who had two hits and scored twice in the third inning, continues to make the most of an everyday opportunity to start.
"It feels good," said the senior leftfielder. "I've been hitting pretty good, carrying over from last summer."
The Gulls scratched out their two runs in the fifth after Brause ran into control problems. The senior hurler wavered with his usually impeccable command after fielding Mitch De Gandi's dribbler to the right of the mound for the second out in the fourth inning. After walking Ben Christianson on four pitches, Brause ended the inning by fanning Ross Knutsen looking on a 2-2 curveball. The Gulls loaded the bases with nobody out in the fifth on a 4-pitch leadoff walk to Mark Thysell, followed by a hit batter and catcher's interference. Jon Giztavich forced in Thysell with a bases loaded free pass to end Brause's night.
"He said something kind of popped in his hip," said Gasser. "At that point, we didn't want his pitch count to go very high. When he got to 70, there was no reason to keep him out there."
Poyer recorded the final three outs, yielding a sacrifice fly to Will Beatty before recording the final two outs on strikeouts. Every player for both teams batted in the game.
The Fishermen and Gulls bring their act to Astoria's Aiken Field on Thursday for a 5:00 p.m. rematch. Astoria has won five straight games to improve to 5-3, while the Gulls dropped to 4-5 with the loss.
ASTORIA 4-1-10-0-0 15-11-3
SEASIDE 0-0-0-0-2 2-0-5
WP-Brause (4+ip, 0h, 2r, 1er, 5k, 4bb, hp, wp)
LP-Oros (2.2 ip, 10h, 15r, 5er, 3k, 3bb, 2hp)
E-Davis, Landwehr, Jawarski, Oros, Giztavich, De Gandi 2, Carlson. LOB-Astoria 7, Seaside 6. 2B-Koehnke 2. SF-Jawarski, Beatty. DP-Seaside 1.
posted by Matt Richert at 11:22 PM
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