Wildcat baseball gets back to work following hard-fought win Thursday and routs Juanita, 4-8-11
Mount Si senior Derek Welsh high-fives teammates after he hit a home run to help the Wildcat baseball team beat Juanita yesterday. (Photo courtesy Calder Productions)
The Wildcats used strong hitting and equally solid pitching to take care of the Juanita Rebels 9-0 on a very nice day for baseball at Mount Si High School. Senior Derek Welsh hit a home run to anchor a solid performance at the plate for the Wildcats, who also got a big effort from Max Brown, who went 3-4 with a run scored and RBI. But it was the efforts of their pitching which for the second straight game were key; starter Trevor Taylor pitched five strong innings, only giving up two hits while striking out 10 Rebel hitters, and reliever Hudson Luxich came in and finished the job with two strong innings of his own, giving up only one hit and striking out three.
“Huge improvement for us,” said Mount Si coach Elliott Cribby of his team’s performance yesterday coming off a not-so-strong effort against Bellevue Thursday.
Mount Si opened the scoring with two in the first; the first was scored on a double-steal of second base and home plate, with Dustin Breshears stealing home on the play to put the Wildcats on the board. Tim Proudfoot, who stole second on that play, scored the second run later in the frame on a passed ball by the Juanita catcher.
Two more runs were scored in the third by Mount Si; Proudfoot and Trevor Lane scored those to put the Wildcats up 4-0. Welsh’s home run was the big hit in a three-run fourth which broke the game open. The shot, hit into the trees beyond left center field, was followed up by a triple from Breshears and singles from Proudfoot and Robb Lane which scored Breshears and Proudfoot respectively.
Even the reserves got in the act; in the fifth, a triple by Justin Henak was the big hit in another big inning; Henak’s hit scored Andrew Dunklee, who reached base on a single which scored Brown. Mount Si had a chance to ten-run the Rebels in the sixth, but Juanita was saved by a nice defensive play by their first baseman which gave the Rebels one more chance in the seventh. Luxich took care of the Juanita hitters 1-2-3 in the top of that frame, giving the Wildcats their sixth straight win, a streak which has seen their offense get super-hot; Mount Si in the string has outscored their opponents 57-16.
The Wildcats resume their suspended game against Mercer Island tonight at 6:00 at Island Crest Park on Mercer Island. The game was halted Wednesday night thanks to rain and lightning with Mount Si trailing 3-0 in the second after a bases-clearing double by the Islanders’ David Oppenheim in the bottom of the first. The game will resume from the point of suspension with Wildcat senior Reece Karalus in the middle of his at-bat.
