PORT ANGELES — Wilder Baseball concluded its own tournament with a pair of losses to teams from Laces Baseball Academy.
Wilder played good enough to defeat the Everett-area teams, but was undone in both games by defensive miscues.
Wilder took fourth in the 17th annual Dick Brown Memorial Firecracker Classic with a 7-2 loss to Laces 18U in the third-place game Sunday at Civic Field.
It was only the fourth time out of 17 that the area Senior Babe Ruth team didn’t win the Firecracker Classic, but the third time in the past four years.
Manager Mike Politika remains confident as Wilder prepares for the postseason.
“It was a disappointing finish,” Politika said.
“We’ll get back on track. I’m not worried about that.”
Wilder begins the Senior Babe Ruth state tournament next Monday in Ephrata. Before that, it will play a nine-inning game against North Kitsap AAA Legion in Poulsbo on Wednesday.
North Kitsap AAA placed second at the Firecracker Classic, losing to Laces 19U in Sunday’s championship game.
Wilder lost to Laces 19U 5-1 in the final game of pool play Saturday. In that game the area team committed four errors.
On Sunday, in its final home game of the summer, Wilder out-hit Laces 18U but again had four errors.
“We had opportunities, we just did not get the timely hitting like we needed to be successful,” Politika said.
James Grubb had three of Wilder’s seven hits and drove in both of its runs.
After Evan Hurn and Tanner Gochnour singled in fourth inning and advanced to second and third on a passed ball, Grubb hit a two-out, two-run double that accounted for all of Wilder’s scoring.
Brady Konopaski and Travis Paynter also had Wilder’s two other hits.
Bradley Curan started and struck out six in six innings for Wilder. Three of the six runs he allowed were unearned.
“It’s a little disappointing didn’t play up to our standards offensively and defensively,” Politika said.
“Curan pitched good enough to win.”
Brady Shimko pitched an inning of relief for Wilder and gave up one run.
Wilder (16-9-1) and North Kitsap AAA play at North Kitsap High School at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Laces 18U 7, Wilder 2
Laces 18U 0 2 1 0 2 1 1 — 7 6 0
Wilder 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 — 2 7 4
LP- Bradley
Pitching Statistics
Wilder: Bradley 6 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 6 K; Shimko IP, R, BB, HBP.
Hitting Statistics
Wilder: Grubb 3-3, 2B, 2 RBI; Hurn 1-3, R; Gochnour 1-3, R; Konopaski 1-3; Paynter 1-3.
