E-W baseball sitting atop Wesco 4A South

Published 6:56 pm Tuesday, April 10, 2012

EDMONDS — The Edmonds-Woodway baseball team ended the week with its first league loss of the season but still ahead of their closest rival in the Western Conference 4A South Division.

Kamiak scored one run in the bottom of the seventh to edge the Warriors 5-4 on April 6 at Kamiak High School.

Edmonds-Woodway (6-1 in the league, 8-2 overall) still has a two-game lead on the second-place Knights (4-3, 5-5), pending the results of Tuesday’s game, the second of the two-game series.

Warrior coach Dan Somoza stressed to his players that they should learn from the loss.

“We’ve taken it as a challenge to get better. We know we have to get better,” he said. “In close games you’ve to got to close up the little things. … You’ve got to know what you’re going to do with the ball before it comes to you. In a couple of cases, we didn’t execute that. Learn how to play in pressure. That’s what going to win playoff games.”

Earlier in the week, Edmonds-Woodway beat Jackson 4-1 behind a no-hitter by Patrick Bernard. The victory coupled with 6-5 win on March 28 meant the Warriors swept Jackson, who beat Edmonds-Woodway four times in 2011.

The Timberwolves went on to finish second in state, losing to Bothell.

“It’s been a long time since we swept Jackson,” Somoza said. “We just happened to do the little things right on those two days. Patrick pitched a great game and so did Ryan Budnick the first game. We got good pitching and we didn’t make many errors. Jackson is a great team.

“It’s got to give us a lot of confidence, especially since last year we had a lot of trouble with Jackson. It’s a long season. Every little step to make you feel more successful as a team the better.”

Edmonds-Woodway also posted 5-4 and 6-0 victories over Mariner last week.

All facets of the Warriors’ game have come together, starting with the pitching of Budnick and Bernard. The new bats high school teams are using have reduced run production and made pitching and defense a premium.

“You’ve really got to stress defense and pitching,” Somoza said. “If you don’t walk many guys, you’ve got a chance to win every game. … I’m real happy with what we’re doing on the hill.”

Ben Roquet has been leading the charge on offense, especially last week when he had half a dozen doubles.

The second half of the regular season starts this week as Edmonds-Woodway takes on Cascade on Wednesday (4 p.m. at Cascade) and Friday (4 p.m. at Edmonds-Woodway).

“Teams get better throughout the year,” Somoza said. “When you’re on top of the standings right now, the teams are going to come after you. So we’ve got to be at our best always.”