For four-and-a-half innings, Sequim’s neighbors from the west were humbling the hometown Wolves.
But a five-run fifth inning helped Sequim avoid a mild upset and give the Wolves an 8-1 win against Forks on March 19 for their first win of the season.
Ryan Heuter started the rally with a base hit –
Sequim’s first of the game – and turned a 1-1 tie into a rout.
Jeremie Oliver picked up the win on the mound, throwing three scoreless innings in relief. He finished with five strikeouts and gave up just one of Forks’ six hits.
"We were taking our opponent lightly," Sequim coach Dave Ditlefsen said, moments after chastising his team in a post-game talk. "We paid for it for five innings."
Once the offense came alive, the Wolves (1-2) pounded Forks pitching for seven hits
in those final two innings. Drew Rickerson finished 2-for-3 with a double, two steals and a walk. Catcher Tyler Campbell had a two-run double off the bench while Heuter had three steals and scored twice. Preston McFarlen, who was hit twice by Forks pitchers, added a hit, an RBI, two runs and three steals.
Sequim starter Drew Rickerson held the Spartans to one run on five hits in four innings of work. He struck out five batters.
The win was key for Sequim, particularly after coming off a late-inning loss to Bellarmine Prep and heading into the Olympic League schedule beginning this week.
"(Our) focus and concentration will be there," Ditlefsen said. "It’s just disappointing we had a game without it."
The Wolves were slated to play at rival Port Angeles on March 22 – results for this section were unavailable at press time.
Sequim hosts Bremerton on March 24. The Wolves then travel to Port Townsend on March 26 and to Silverdale on March 30 to play Klahowya’s Eagles.
Miscues doom Wolves late
A pair of errors in the bottom of the seventh inning helped Bellarmine Prep overcome an 11-3 Sequim lead and give the hosts a 12-11, nonleague win in Tacoma on March 17.
Down 4-3 heading into the top of the sixth inning, the Wolves plated eight runs, but the Lions responded with three runs in the bottom of the sixth and five runs in the seventh.
Sequim and Bellarmine Prep pitchers struggled all day, each issuing 10 walks and hitting three batters.
The Wolves’ offense outhit Bellarmine Prep 11-9. Oliver was 3-for-5 with an RBI, Rickerson was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBIs, McFarlen has two hits and scored twice, and Isaac Yamamoto had a pair of hits and walked three times.
Matt Bereiter, finishing the game for his brother Mike, Sequim’s starter, took the loss.
Cowboys lasso a win
Right out of the gate, a pitching duel.
Chimacum’s Cowboys showed they might be one of the stronger 1A teams in the region after holding the 2A Wolves to just four hits in a 4-1 nonleague win on March 15, the season opener for both clubs.
Chimacum took a 2-0 lead off Wolves starter Matt Bereiter in the first inning, then got a two-run home run from Austin McConnell off the Sequim senior for insurance in the third.
Bereiter drove in Sequim’s only run in the sixth inning.
Oliver shut out the Cowboys in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. He and Bereiter gave up just five hits total.
Reach Michael Dashiell at miked@sequimgazette.com.
