Jackson pounds Edmonds-Woodway 14-5

Published 9:13 pm Thursday, April 7, 2011

MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — The unseemly early-spring weather has played havoc with the high school baseball season, not only forcing games to be rescheduled, but making it difficult for teams to practice.

The Jackson Timberwolves, however, have found a way to use the meteorological mess to their advantage.

Forced to spend much of the season so far in the batting cages, the T-wolves on Thursday showed just how much that time has paid off, using an offensive barrage to pound the Edmonds-Woodway Warriors 14-5 in a frigid Wesco South game at Mountlake Terrace High School.

Jackson rapped out 15 hits, including nine during a nine-run first inning that ended the game before it really got started. Six of those 15 hits went for extra bases as the T-wolves hit the ball hard from start to finish.

“All of our kids get in cages and hit over and over and over and over,” Jackson coach Kirk Nicholson said. “When you don’t get on the field, you know what you do? You go hit some more. So we’ve gotten a lot of cuts this year and it shows.”

The T-wolves received contributions up and down the order. All nine members of Jackson’s lineup had at least one hit and scored at least one run as the T-wolves exhibited an order that is dangerous from top to bottom.

“We were just thinking to be aggressive and if something shows up just try an hit it as hard as you can,” said Jackson starting pitcher Sam Brown, who had three hits, including two during the first-inning rally. “That was the key to us getting a lot of runs.

“It definitely helps,” Brown added about Jackson’s offensive depth. “It helps a pitcher, too, knowing anyone can go out there and back you up and score runs for you. It’s a good feeling to have.”

Colby Johansen also had three hits for Jackson, including a pair of doubles. Joakim Soderqvist added three RBI for the T-wolves. Brown and John Wilde combined to pitch a six-hitter for Jackson.

The victory, in a game that was rescheduled twice because of rain and on Thursday had to be moved to a field with artificial turf, gave Jackson (6-0 league, 9-0 overall) a sweep in its two-game series against the Warriors. The T-wolves, ranked third in the state in the latest class 4A state coaches poll, now have an early lead on the sixth-ranked Warriors (2-2 league, 5-2 overall) in the Wesco South race.

However, Nicholson was quick to say this week’s two victories over Edmonds-Woodway were not about making a statement.

“There’s no statement,” Nicholson said. “Every team is going to be better in a month, and you don’t know what you’re going to be. I don’t have any idea what my team is going to be in a month because we haven’t had a lot of practice time. Do we get better? That’s more important to me. And (the Warriors) are going to be a lot better the next time we play them and it will be a whole different game.”

The teams play another two-game series later in the season, and Edmonds-Woodway coach Dan Somoza knows his team needs to improve by the time the teams meet again.

“Jackson is one of the best teams in the state,” Somoza said. “They looked very good the last two games we’ve played. They just flat out crushed the ball against some of our top pitchers.

“We need to get better,” Somoza added. “If we want to compete against the best teams — and we think we’re one of the top teams — we just need to get better. We can’t let teams get up on us so early. Our pitchers need to hit spots better and we need to score runs earlier in the game.”

Mac McLachlan went 2-for-2 to lead the Warriors, while Tate Budnick added two RBI.

Jackson put the game out of reach early. The only out the T-wolves made the first time through the order came on Anthony Flatt’s sacrifice fly. Brown’s RBI double to left opened the scoring in the bottom of the first, and his RBI single to center ended it. The biggest blows in between were Spencer Ankney’s two-run double to right-center and Soderqvist’s two-run single to left as Jackson jumped out to a 9-0 lead.

After that the teams played even, and with a pair of runs in both the third and fourth innings Edmonds-Woodway at least made the T-wolves take notice by pulling within five.

But three more Jackson runs in the bottom of the fourth, punctuated by an RBI triple by Flatt and a run-scoring double by Johansen, ended any thoughts of an unlikely comeback.

At Mountlake Terrace H.S.

Edmonds-Woodway 002 210 0–5 6 0

Jackson 900 302 x–14 15 0

R. Budnick, Rheinford and T. Budnick. Brown, Wilde (4) and Olson. WP–Wilde. LP–R. Budnick. 2B–McLachlan (EW), Jones (EW), Brown (J), Beasly (J), Ankney (J), Johansen (J) 2. 3B–Flatt (J). Records–Jackson 6-0 league, 9-0 overall. Edmonds-Woodway 2-2, 5-2.