Mavericks sweep Scots

SHORELINE — The first half of the Shorecrest baseball team’s regular-season schedule was supposed to contain the Wesco 4A South Division’s most beatable ball clubs.

But the Scots didn’t coast through their first eight league games and had a .500 record to show for it.

Heading into this week’s series with Everett, Shorecrest (4-4 league, 6-4 overall) had dropped four of its past five, including two in a row to 3A counterpart Meadowdale.

With their series sweep, the Mavericks pulled even with Shorecrest in the league standings and gained an advantage over the Scots in the race for the Western Conference’s top seed to the Northwest District 3A playoffs.

Sam Kastel’s seventh-inning two-run home run was all the offense Shorecrest could muster in a 7-2 loss to Meadowdale April 9, but the Scots made sure Tuesday’s rematch went down to the wire.

After trailing by as many as four, the Scots tied the game at 6-all with a two-out rally in the bottom of the sixth inning. But Shorecrest’s pitching withered in the seventh and the Mavericks prevailed 10-6.

Porter Balke led off the seventh with a single, Ray Hagens followed with a double to left-center and an intentional walk loaded the bases with no outs. Meadowdale regained the lead when the next two batters drew walks on eight straight balls and Ryan Marin capped the scoring with a two-run single to left.

Marin’s three-run home run in the fourth gave the Mavericks a 5-1 edge. The senior outfielder went 4-for-4 with a double and two singles and drove in six runs.

“We need to start putting the ball in play more and putting more runs on the board,” Shorecrest catcher Tim Workman said. “Our pitchers need to throw more strikes and cut down on the walks. We’re trying to find some guys who can come on in relief, so (starters) don’t have to throw 120 pitches.”

Shorecrest’s four pitchers combined for six walks and just one strikeout in Tuesday’s loss, a mark that’s indicative of how the season has been going.

“The last four or five games, our walks-to-strikeouts ratio is a little upside down,” Scots coach Brett Medalia said. “We’ve gotta throw strikes.”

Workman and Clete Barrick smacked back-to-back RBI singles in the fifth to trim Shorecrest’s deficit to 5-3. Meadowdale added a run in the top of the sixth, but in the bottom of the inning the Scots pulled even.

Senior center fielder Mike Burgher ripped a two-run single up the middle and scored the tying run when A.J. Collins sliced the next pitch down the right-field line. Burgher homered to right in the third to make it 1-1.

“The kids battled back,” Medalia said. “These kids have a lot of heart. They seem to do a good job of picking each other up. They pull together.”

After finishing up with Everett, the Scots will face Kamiak and Edmonds-Woodway, the two teams who were tied atop the division standings as of Tuesday’s results.

“Our schedule’s getting progressively harder,” Workman said. “We’ve got Everett, Kamiak, Jackson and Shorewood. Those teams have the talent to put runs on the board.”