PORT ANGELES — Wilder Baseball’s defense lost a duel with Laces 19U, costing the hosts a chance to win their second straight Dick Brown Memorial Firecracker Classic championship.
Wilder committed four errors as both teams were held to three hits in Laces’ 5-1 win Saturday at Civic Field.
All five of the runs given up by Wilder pitchers James Grubb and Brady Konopaski were unearned.
“That’s what cost us,” Wilder coach Mike Politika said of the errors.
“Just little mistakes that added up.”
Eathen Boyer drove in Dusty Bates with a fielder’s choice to cut Laces’ lead to 2-1 in the fourth inning.
That score remained until the top of the seventh when Laces, made up of players from the Everett area, scored three runs to extend its advantage to 5-1.
Tanner Gochnour had two of Wilder’s three hits. Zach Withrow had the other.
Laces pitcher Nick Hoskins confounded Wilder batters, tossing a complete game and striking out seven.
“Their pitcher was probably the best we faced all year,” Politika said.
“It was a tough outing for outing for boys, but they battled, they competed.”
Laces 19U 5, Wilder 1
Laces 19U 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 — 5 3 1
Wilder 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 — 1 3 4
WP- Hoskins; LP- Grubb
Pitching Statistics
Laces 19U: Hoskins 7 IP, 3 H, R, 2 BB, 7 K.
Wilder: Grubb 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 4 K; Konopaski 2 IP, 0 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 3 BB.
Hitting Statistics
Wilder: Bates 0-1, BB, HBP, R; Gochnour 2-3; Withrow 1-2; Boyer 0-3, RBI.
