SPORTS: Wilder just a twin bill away today from regional Babe Ruth title

PORT ANGELES — The script couldn’t have gone much better for Wilder Baseball in the first four days of the Senior Babe Ruth Pacific Northwest Regional Tournament.

Four days, four wins and all three of its top arms — Cody Sullivan, A.J. Konopaski and Austin McConnell — are rested and ready for today’s four-team championship round at Civic Field.

Wilder blasted the Calgary Blue 8-1 on Friday, then followed that up with a 17-7 victory over the Casper (Wyo.) Cardinals on Saturday to finish 4-0 in the American Division and claim one of two top seeds in the single-elimination bracket.

The area 16- to 18-year-old all-star squad will take on National Division No. 2 Toyota Baseball (3-1) of King County in today’s first semifinal at 11 a.m.

Win there, and Wilder will face the winner of the 1:30 p.m. semifinal between American No. 2 Portland Baseball (3-1) and National Division champion Kitsap Baseball (4-0) later in the day.

That game, set for 4 p.m., will not only be for the regional title but also a spot in the Senior Babe Ruth World Series.

“This is where we want to be,” said Wilder coach Rob Merritt, a player on the last Wilder team (then known as Aggie’s Inn) to reach a World Series back in 1987. “Everybody has got pitching now. Everybody has been holding back, and we’ve got four guys we can run out there [including reliever Cole Uvila].

“We’ll just try to get game one and then worry about game two.”

Merritt said he’ll likely go with Sullivan in the semifinal against Toyota.

If Wilder manages to make the title game, it’s more than likely A.J. Konopaski will take the hill to begin that one.

“I think Cody will be a good matchup for [Toyota],” Merritt said. “You’re just going with your gut at this point.

“I’ll have a short leash on everybody.”

Merritt has that luxury because the other members of his pitching staff have been strong throughout the tournament.

In the first three games alone — wins that clinched the American Division’s top seed prior to Saturday — Wilder pitchers allowed just two runs in 21 innings.

That included a six-inning, five-hit masterpiece from Brian Senf in Friday’s 8-1 win against Calgary.

The recent Port Angeles graduate walked just three batters and struck out three while allowing the Wilder defense to shine behind him.

Meanwhile, McConnell (Chimacum) blasted a three-run homer in the bottom of the first inning that proved to be all Senf and reliever Derek Crain would need to get the win.

“It was a good outing for [Senf],” Merritt said.

“He didn’t have his curveball very much to where was having to throw fastballs, but he got a lot groundballs.”

Wilder committed just one error on the game, and has just four fielding gaffes in its four wins.

“You play pretty good defense that’s what happens,” Merritt said.

“We had about a nine-day break before our first game after Clackamas to this, so we had six days of practice where we got a lot of ground balls, a lot of fly balls. We just needed that extra work.”

The defense wasn’t the story in Saturday night’s 17-7 win over Casper.

Instead, it was Wilder’s batting order, which bashed a total of 16 hits, that stole the show in a five-inning mercy rule victory.

Wilder had five hitters with multi-hit games, including a 3-for-5 performance from Sullivan with three runs scored, two RBIs and a double.

Isaac Yamamoto, Easton Napiontek, Crain and Uvila each added two hits apiece.

Crain got the win on the mound, giving up just one run in three innings of work.

“It’s going to be who plays good defense, pitches and who executes [that wins today],” Merritt said.

“That’s what it’s going to come down to when you get to this point in the tournament.”

Wilder 8, Calgary 1

Calgary 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 — 1 5 2

Wilder 4 0 1 2 1 0 X — 8 10 1

WP- Senf (2-0); LP- Whitehead

Pitching Statistics