SHORELINE — The Lynnwood baseball team needed an epic rally to defeat the Wesco 3A South-leading Shorewood Thunderbirds Tuesday afternoon.
It was a different story Wednesday.
A day after scoring seven runs in the sixth inning of a 10-9 come-from-behind win, Lynnwood jumped on Shorewood early and led the whole way. The Royals got on the scoreboard in the top of the first inning and continued to pile on as Lynnwood got its second win over the Thunderbirds in as many days with a 6-1 victory at Meridian Park Fields.
“These games are huge. Right now, we’ve got a chance to still win first place,” Lynnwood head coach Fraser Dizard said. “I was telling the guys, going into the series, ‘Hey let’s play loose because we’ve got to win out to take first.’ … Even more, it shows our guys that we can beat anybody. First place in the league and we’ve beat them two times in a row. It gives our guys confidence to know that we really can play with anyone.”
Wednesday’s leader was senior pitcher Brice Foster. Foster allowed only one run and scattered six hits in a complete-game victory to improve to 4-2 this season.
Foster also didn’t walk a single batter in the game.
“I’ve got to give them credit. That kid threw a real good game today,” Shorewood head coach Wyatt Tonkin said. “He was tough. He didn’t walk anybody and in high school baseball if you don’t walk anybody you’re going to win.”
“He did a great job today,” Dizard said of Foster. “He’s gotten better and better every start this year. He’s given up one run in his last two starts and gone two complete games in a row.
“He came out and dominated the best team in the league.”
Lynnwood’s offense gave Foster an early lead that he didn’t relinquish. Kyler McMahan hit an RBI groundout in the top of the first inning and added an RBI single one inning later as Lynnwood opened up a 3-0 lead.
Shorewood got its lone run in the bottom of the second on an RBI groundout by Tanner Oxnevad but the Royals countered with runs in the third, fourth and sixth innings to put away the Thunderbirds.
“We love to play against the top guys,” Foster said. “We’re always so competitive. We’ve been struggling a little bit lately but we’re picking it back up against them. I definitely think (Tuesday’s game) carried over. We put up that seven-spot and knocked them out of their rhythm. It definitely rolled over to (Wednesday).”
Catcher Brady Girgus went 1-for-2 with a run scored, an RBI and two walks and Chase Hacker added a leadoff triple for Lynnwood (10-5 league, 11-6 overall) to start the game.
The Royals, who went 2-2 against Shorewood last season including a 3-0 victory in the 3A District 1 title game over the Thunderbirds, always seems to give Shorewood trouble, according to Tonkin.
“They’ve got our number, it seems,” Tonkin said. “It was the same last year. They gave us some battles. They always give us trouble. They’re scrappy.”
Like Dizard, Tonkin said he’s “never seen anything like” the Royals’ eight-run, two-inning comeback on Tuesday. The coach wasn’t sure if the game was still on our players minds but he was adamant that his team had to take better care of the ball after committing an uncharacteristic five errors on Wednesday.
“It just came down to we made too many mistakes early in the game,” Tonkin said. “They’re small mistakes that we practice everyday. What it comes down to is if they score six, we’ve got to score seven and we didn’t.”
Junior Jake Fredrickson was a bright spot for the Shorewood offense, going 3-for-3 with a pair of hard-hit doubles that both hit the outfield wall and a run scored.
“Jake had a heck of a game today,” Tonkin said. “… He just about knocked our wall down out there. It’s good to see that.”
Tonkin expects Shorewood (11-4, 12-5), which is still at the top of the Wesco 3A South standings despite its current two-game losing streak, to bounce back in game three of the series Friday night at Lynnwood.
“The good thing about it is we’re leaving here and we’re still in first place,” Tonkin said. “If we right the ship we’ll be OK. We just move forward. We hold the tiebreaker with (Edmonds-Woodway, which is currently 11-6 in league play). And (Lynnwood’s) a game behind us now and they hold the tiebreaker on us, so we’ve got to win that game Friday and then get two from Glacier Peak next week and get some momentum to roll into districts.”
At Meridian Park Fields
WP: Brice Foster (7 IP, 4 K, 0 BB, 1 R). LP: Riley Teeters. Individual highlights: Lynnwood—Kyler McMahan (1-3, 2 RBI), Brady Girgus (1-2, RS, RBI, 2 BB); Shorewood—Jake Fredrickson (3-3, 2 2B, RS). Records—Lynnwood 10-5 league, 11-6 overall. Shorewood 11-4, 12-5.
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