Our Ballard baseball boys have been staying on top of the league with two wins and two losses in the past week, making for 5-2 in the Kingco league. While they have been battling for the lead, they are now at No. 2 in the league, just one win shy of tying for first with No. 1 Skyline -- who, by the way, lost to Ballard.
Next, the Beavers will be facing the defending state champions Kentwood Conquerors this Saturday at 4 p.m. The Beavers and Kentwood will share the honor of playing this game at Safeco Field! The game is free to attend so please support our Beavers! For more information on this special event, please go to the Ballard Baseball website, www.ballardbaseball.com.
For your reading pleasure, here's a roundup of the Beavers' recent games.
Ballard vs. Eastlake, Wednesday, April 3
The seniors on the Ballard Baseball Varsity share something in common: They have never lost to The Eastlake High School Wolves of Sammamish. In Wednesday's thriller at Whitman, Eastlake seemed on their way to ending the streak by scoring 2 runs in the 1st inning and holding the lead until the 5th. In the 5th inning, senior right fielder Stuart MacGeorge and sophomore Alex Livengood produced the game tying RBI's. In the 7th inning, with the bases loaded, senior catcher Frank Airey's 'walk-off walk' RBI ended the game. Senior Ryan Kangas earned player of the game honors by going 1 for 3 at the plate but also for closing the game and earning the victory by pitching 2 1/3 shut down innings.
Ballard vs. Woodinville, Monday, April 1
Last Monday, the Falcons' starting pitcher, Stephen White, held the Beavers to 3 hits in a defensive battle under the lights at Woodinville. The 3-1 loss dropped Ballard down to 2nd place in the KingCo Crown Division standings. Both White and Ballard senior Carl Pearson went the distance in the duel. The 3 base hits came from seniors Ryan Kangas, Stuart MacGeorge and Frank Airey. Airey's single to left field also produced the only Beaver RBI, scoring Ryan Kangas. The best defensive play of the game was when shortstop Ben Welch chased down a grounder and made a major league throw to first. Unfortunately, the field ump wasn't impressed and called the runner safe much to the surprise of the Beaver dug out and everyone else in attendance!
Ballard vs. Skyline, Friday, March 29
Defense, defense and more defense. On Friday, March 29th, the Ballard Beavers regained its lead in the KingCo 4A Crown Division by beating the Skyline Spartans of Sammamish 2 to 1. The combination of senior pitchers Joe 'Big Cat' Jacobson and Dash Sklenar won the pitcher duel over Drew Lunde of Skyline. Jacobson started the game and pitched 4 innings, gave up 5 hits, 1 run, walked 2 and struck out 3. Sklenar pitched 3 innings, 0 runs, walked 2 and struck out 2. Senior shortstop Ben Welch earned player of the game honors thanks to his plate performance and base stealing. Ben had 2 of the Beavers 4 base hits, 2 stolen bases, 1 run and 1 RBI. Jacob Westerman and Rory Graf-Brennen each accounted for 1 hit and senior catcher Frank Airey had Ballard's other RBI.
Ballard vs. Issaquah, Wednesday, March 27
If you were only looking at the statistics, you would be surprised that it was such a low scoring game but equally surprising was that Ballard's 12 hits produced only 2 runs. Issaquah, playing at home, handed the Beavers their first KingCo 4A Conference loss last Wednesday 3 to 2. Sophomore sensation Jacob Westerman led the offense again by going 3 for 3 at the plate and senior Stuart MacGeorge added another 2 of Ballard's 12 total base hits compared to Issaquah's 7. Defensively, another sophomore, Alex Livengood pitched 2 2/3 shutout innings and struck out 3 Eagles batters in relief of Ryan Kangas. The defensive play of the game has to be the catch by senior center fielder Rory Graf-Brennen. Early in the game, Graf-Brennen resembled Willie Mays when he robbed Issaquah's Michell Morimoto with an over the shoulder snag in deep center field.
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