By Pierre LaBossiere
Peninsula Daily News
BURLINGTON — Wilder Jr. climbed out of a big hole to tie the game in a dogfight with Burlington at the American Legion AA District Tournament, but in the eighth inning, Burlington ended up winning the game 5-4 on a walkoff single.
Wilder Jr. went 3-2 at the district tournament and begins play at the state AA American Legion tournament in Yakima as a No. 3 seed out of district.
If Wilder Jr. could have pulled out Sunday evening’s game, they would have moved on to the district championship game.
“We played really well. We played a couple of really good teams, beat one of them, lost two close games,” said coach Zac Moore.
Wilder Jr. got behind 4-2 after two innings, but clawed back into the game with a run in the fourth and two in the sixth. Meanwhile, pitchers Eli Cyr and Seth Woods kept Burlington scoreless over five innings.
“Seth Woods pitched well. His strike percentage was about .570,” Moore said.
“Michael Grubb defensively was a rock. He was huge all weekend. I think he hit about .600 [at district],” said Moore.
Logan Olson did almost all the damage in the Burlington game. His sacrifice fly in the fourth inning made the score 4-2. Then, in the sixth, he cracked a two-run triple to tie the game.
Olson ended up 3 for 3 with a run scored and three RBIs. Trey Baysinger was 2 for 3, while Adam Watkins hit a first-inning double that drove in a run. Grubb also had a hit.
On the mound, Cyr started, going three innings and giving up three earned runs. He struck out one and walked two. Woods pitched 4 1/3 innings, giving up five hits and one earned run. He walked just one.
Wilder Jr. (18-11 overall) begins play at the state AA tournament at 10 a.m. Saturday in Yakima. They will play the No. 2 seed out of Area 3. Area 3 is located in northeastern Washington.
The Crosscutters, Wilder Jr. and Wilder Sr. will be playing in the American Legion A, AA and AAA tournaments this weekend, respectively.
To watch the games online, people can go to www.wastatealb.org.
Burlington 5, Wilder Jr. 4
WJr. 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 — 4 7 2
B’ton 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 — 5 10 4
LP: Woods
Pitching
Wilder Jr. — Cyr 3IP, 5H, 3ER, K, 2BB; Woods 4.1IP, 5H, ER, BB.
Hitting
Wilder Jr. — Olson 3-3, 3B, R, 3RBI; Baysinger 2-3, HBP; Watkins 1-3, 2B, RBI; Grubb 1-2.
