LEAKY LOSS FOR WARRENTON
If this is as bad as at gets for Warrenton, then the Warriors should feel pretty good about their chances in the Lewis & Clark League.
It's hard to feel good about a 2-1 loss at home to Clatskanie, one of two teams that will contend with the Warriors for the top spot in the league. But, as poorly as the Warriors played on Thursday, they nearly were able to pull off a win against the visiting Tigers.
"We couldn't put things together," said Warriors head coach Lennie Wolfe. "We did not execute well defensively or play small ball well."
Dan Wolfe's strong outing on the mound was wasted as the Warriors committed seven errors in the loss.
Three batters into the game, Warrenton already had more errors than Clatskanie would have hits.
The game began ominously when Luke Meyer's fly ball to left field was dropped, putting the Clatskanie leadoff man at second base. Meyer was on third shortly thereafter, when a pickoff throw ended up in center field and would score when younger brother Asa Meyer reached on an error after the first baseman pulled his foot off the bag. Asa Meyer would advance to second base on the fourth error of the inning, later scoring what turned out to be the decisive run.
Wolfe battled through the adversity, allowing just three hits in the game with seven strikeouts and two walks. Only one of Clatskanie's three hits left the infield and Adam Kallio was responsible for all three of the Tigers' hits. Only four balls were hit to the outfield by Clatskanie and two of them were dropped fly balls.
While the Warriors made a lot of poor plays in the field, they kept the Tigers at bay by responding with runners on base.
"We did a couple of good things defensively," said Wolfe. "We turned a couple of double plays up the middle. We picked a guy off second base."
Equally as aggravating as the defensive lapses if not moreso, were Warrenton's failures to move runners with the sacrifice bunt, a foundation of Warrior baseball.
Warrenton got a run back in the third when Kevin Moore reached on an infield hit, moved to second on an errant pickoff throw, to third on a wild pitch and crossed the plate on a ground out by Buddy Davis.
Down by a single run, the Warriors had plenty of opportunities to score the rest of the way.
"Our bunting game hurt us," said Wolfe. "We failed to execute three bunts, one of them a squeeze."
Warrenton put runners on second and third with one out in the fourth inning, but a the failed squeeze cost them the lead runner and the inning ended with Beau Torres being picked off first base.
In the sixth inning, with two on and nobody out, Taylor made a leaping catch at second base on Bubba Massey's line drive. With Kallio on the mound, the Tigers retired the next two batters to end the threat.
Finally, in the seventh inning Kevin Moore and Dan Wolfe got on base with singles putting runners on first and second with two out. Buddy Davis hit a sharp ground ball back up the middle off the pitcher Kallio, who recovered just in time to get the final out of the game with the dangerous Eric Gantenbein looming on deck.
"We didn't execute early," said Wolfe, "and we didn't look real sharp later. We didn't execute our stuff. They did a great job defensively. They turned a double play and their pitcher made us hit ground balls and they made the plays."
"It wasn't just a matter of us booting it away. They did a lot of good things."
Moore finished 2-for-3 at the plate for Warrenton.
The Warriors, now 8-2 with a 2-1 league record, head to Catlin Gabel on Friday. Then Tuesday its a key road game at Rainier. Wins in those games could create a three-way tie for first place pending the outcome of Rainier's game against Clatskanie.
CLATSKANIE 2-0-0-0-0-0-0 2-3-2
WARRENTON 0-0-1-0-0-0-0 1-7-7
WP-Taylor (5ip, 4h, er, 2k, 3bb)
LP-Wolfe (7ip, 3h, 2r, 0er, 7k, 2bb)
SV-Kallio (2ip, 2h, 0r, 0k, bb)
It's hard to feel good about a 2-1 loss at home to Clatskanie, one of two teams that will contend with the Warriors for the top spot in the league. But, as poorly as the Warriors played on Thursday, they nearly were able to pull off a win against the visiting Tigers.
"We couldn't put things together," said Warriors head coach Lennie Wolfe. "We did not execute well defensively or play small ball well."
Dan Wolfe's strong outing on the mound was wasted as the Warriors committed seven errors in the loss.
Three batters into the game, Warrenton already had more errors than Clatskanie would have hits.
The game began ominously when Luke Meyer's fly ball to left field was dropped, putting the Clatskanie leadoff man at second base. Meyer was on third shortly thereafter, when a pickoff throw ended up in center field and would score when younger brother Asa Meyer reached on an error after the first baseman pulled his foot off the bag. Asa Meyer would advance to second base on the fourth error of the inning, later scoring what turned out to be the decisive run.
Wolfe battled through the adversity, allowing just three hits in the game with seven strikeouts and two walks. Only one of Clatskanie's three hits left the infield and Adam Kallio was responsible for all three of the Tigers' hits. Only four balls were hit to the outfield by Clatskanie and two of them were dropped fly balls.
While the Warriors made a lot of poor plays in the field, they kept the Tigers at bay by responding with runners on base.
"We did a couple of good things defensively," said Wolfe. "We turned a couple of double plays up the middle. We picked a guy off second base."
Equally as aggravating as the defensive lapses if not moreso, were Warrenton's failures to move runners with the sacrifice bunt, a foundation of Warrior baseball.
Warrenton got a run back in the third when Kevin Moore reached on an infield hit, moved to second on an errant pickoff throw, to third on a wild pitch and crossed the plate on a ground out by Buddy Davis.
Down by a single run, the Warriors had plenty of opportunities to score the rest of the way.
"Our bunting game hurt us," said Wolfe. "We failed to execute three bunts, one of them a squeeze."
Warrenton put runners on second and third with one out in the fourth inning, but a the failed squeeze cost them the lead runner and the inning ended with Beau Torres being picked off first base.
In the sixth inning, with two on and nobody out, Taylor made a leaping catch at second base on Bubba Massey's line drive. With Kallio on the mound, the Tigers retired the next two batters to end the threat.
Finally, in the seventh inning Kevin Moore and Dan Wolfe got on base with singles putting runners on first and second with two out. Buddy Davis hit a sharp ground ball back up the middle off the pitcher Kallio, who recovered just in time to get the final out of the game with the dangerous Eric Gantenbein looming on deck.
"We didn't execute early," said Wolfe, "and we didn't look real sharp later. We didn't execute our stuff. They did a great job defensively. They turned a double play and their pitcher made us hit ground balls and they made the plays."
"It wasn't just a matter of us booting it away. They did a lot of good things."
Moore finished 2-for-3 at the plate for Warrenton.
The Warriors, now 8-2 with a 2-1 league record, head to Catlin Gabel on Friday. Then Tuesday its a key road game at Rainier. Wins in those games could create a three-way tie for first place pending the outcome of Rainier's game against Clatskanie.
CLATSKANIE 2-0-0-0-0-0-0 2-3-2
WARRENTON 0-0-1-0-0-0-0 1-7-7
WP-Taylor (5ip, 4h, er, 2k, 3bb)
LP-Wolfe (7ip, 3h, 2r, 0er, 7k, 2bb)
SV-Kallio (2ip, 2h, 0r, 0k, bb)
posted by Matt Richert at 8:28 PM
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