Wilder’s Gavin Guerrero, sliding, and his teammates will be looking to defend their Firecracker Tournament title this weekend against teams from Bellevue, Woodland and Australia. (Dave Logan/for Peninsula Daily News)

Wilder’s Gavin Guerrero, sliding, and his teammates will be looking to defend their Firecracker Tournament title this weekend against teams from Bellevue, Woodland and Australia. (Dave Logan/for Peninsula Daily News)

FIRECRACKER TOURNAMENT: Wilder baseball welcomes Australians and looks to defend title

PORT ANGELES — This year’s edition of the 22nd annual Dick Brown Firecracker Invitational will have a distinct Australian flavor to it.

Three Australian travel baseball teams will be among the six teams at the tournament, which begins at 10 a.m. Thursday at Civic Field. There will be a total of 16 games over four days with the championship game being held at 6 p.m. Sunday.

The gate fee is $5 a day for adults ages 18 and older and there will be full concessions at the stadium every day.

Wilder Senior, which won the tournament in 2018 and 2017, is again the host and this year will be the only local team at the tournament. The Australian teams are Australia Red, Australia White and Australia Black. Other teams are Centerfield (from Woodland) and Lakeside (from Issaquah/Bellevue).

Despite heavy rain coming down on Tuesday, the weather forecast for the weekend looks promising with sunny skies on Thursday and a slight chance of showers Friday and Saturday.

Wilder comes in to the tournament with an outstanding 11-2 overall record, in first place in the Area 1 AAA American Legion league. Those two losses both came against Lakeside. Wilder has beaten Lakeside twice, however, as the two teams are nearly even.

Each team will play four seeding games and all of Wilder’s games are in the late afternoon or evening. Here is the schedule:

Thursday

10 a.m. — Australia Red vs. Australia White

1 p.m. — Centerfield vs. Australia Black

4 p.m. — Wilder vs. Centerfield

7 p.m. — Wilder vs. Lakeside

Friday

10 a.m. — Centerfield vs. Lakeside

1 p.m. — Lakeside vs. Australia Red

4 p.m. — Australia Red vs. Australia Black

7 p.m. — Wilder vs. Australia White

Saturday

10 a.m. — Australia White vs. Australia Black

1 p.m. — Australia Black vs. Lakeside

4 p.m. — Australia White vs. Centerfield

7 p.m. — Wilder vs. Australia Red

Sunday

9 a.m. — Consolation; No. 5 seed vs. No. 6 seed

Noon — Semifinal; No. 1 seed vs. No. 4 seed

3 p.m. — Semifinal; No. 2 seed vs. No. 3 seed

6 p.m. — Championship game; winner of Game 2 vs. winner of Game 3

The seeding games will have a tiebreaker if games remain tied in the ninth inning. During seeding play, a baserunner is put on second base to start each inning. The tiebreaking format will be dropped in Sunday’s games.

More in Sports

AREA SPORTS: Barn hosting Mariners Training Center clinics Feb. 17

Mariners Training Center holding PA clinics on Feb. 17 PORT ANGELES —… Continue reading

ay Cline/Peninsula College Athletics
Peninsula College's DeShawn Rushmeyer rises for a layup during the Pirates' 97-74 NWAC North Region men's basketball victory Wednesday night.
MENS BASKETBALL: Pirate men dominate Whatcom

Isaiah Lopez had a first half to remember, draining… Continue reading

PREP SPORTS: Snow postpones games all over Olympic Peninsula

Multiple basketball games around in the Olympic Peninsula were… Continue reading

Students at White Crane Martial Arts in downtown Port Angeles attended a lecture on the history and philosophy of Martial arts by visiting grandmaster Mike Foulk from Vancouver.  (White Crane Martial Arts)
AREA SPORTS BRIEFS: Registration open for OJBR

Registration is open for Olympic Junior Babe Ruth baseball… Continue reading

Port Angeles’ Keatyn Hoch (10) goes up for a basket against the defense of Sequim’s Jamison Gray (33) on Friday night in Sequim. The Wolves rallied in the fourth quarter to win 58-49. (Emily Mathiessen/Olympic Peninsula News Group)
PREP BASKETBALL RECAP: Sequim rallies to sweep rumble

Wolves still alive for league title; Port Angeles girls in solid shape for second place

Brody Lausche, Forks basketball.
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Brody Lausche, Forks basketball

Forks’ Brody Lausche has been an absolute beast on the boards all… Continue reading