Pats book split after series run to semis

Pullman Patriots advanced their senior American Legion league record to 5-4 Tuesday with a split against the Spokane Cannons in Spokane. The two clubs flip-flopped on turning out heavy handed wins with the Patriots posting a 15-1 in the opener and the Cannons bagging a 10-0 shutout in the second game.

The split leaves the Patriot at 5-4 in league play and 15-8 overall before they depart this week for the High Desert Classic series at Ephrata. They will return to league play Monday against the Blue Devils at A.K. Jackson Field in Spokane.

A second edition of the Palouse Series will crank up next Wednesday.

In the first game win Tuesday, Mason Van Lith held the Cannons to five hits. He allowed just four walks.

The Patriots stacked up 18 hits off three Cannons pitchers for their offensive blast. Matt Peterson and Dusty Lyons each had three hits with a pair of doubles, and catcher Jeremy Druffel also had three hits.

Cannons hurler Ryan Peterson changed the night’s thene in the second game by throwing a four-hitter at the Patriots. The hosts scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth to shut it down with a shutout.

Tuesday’s split with the Cannons followed a Patriots run in the first edition of the Palouse Summer Series. The locals ended with a 0-4 shutout in the semi-final round at McDonald Field in Colfax to the eventual series champs, Pride Baseball of Bothell.

Pride pitcher Mitchh Viydo rationed out four hits to the Pats’ batters who were unable to link up enough offense for a score. The Pride booked just seven hits off Patriot pitchers Patrick Jacobs and Bricyn Abdul, but they put them in the right places.

The Patriots also were booked for four errors in the semi-final.

Pride later Sunday dropped Spokane Crew 9-1 at Bailey-Brayton field to take the series title.

The Patriots advanced to the semi round after posting a string of wins in the first two days of the tourney.

Saturday they booked two wins, 8-4 over Prairie of Post Falls and 3-2 over Washington Warriors.

Jackson Webb took the mound against Prairie in Saturday’s first game which was at Harris Field in Lewiston. Webb fanned five, walked four and allowed seven hits on the way to the 8-4 win. Five Prairie errors were also factored into the win.

The Pats’ bats booked nine hits with a four-run rally in the bottom of the sixth to erase a 4-4 tie.

The Pats rolled back to Bailey-Brayton for the second game and nipped the Warriors 3-2 with Webb and Dusty Lyons rapping the key RBIs. Lance Lindgren scored on a passed ball.

The Warriors scored in the fifth to get within a run, but they couldn’t get any more.

Matt Peterson held the Warriors to three hits while allowing just two talks.

Friday, the Patriots booked two heavy wins with an offensive explosion. The had 19 hits in a 16-12 win over the same Pride team that stopped them in the semis, and they rapped 17 hits in an 18-10 win over the Columbia River Dawgs.

At Bailey-Brayton against the River Dawgs, the Pats used three pitchers who held the guests to nine hits. Peterson led the 17-hit offense with four raps. Druffel had three hits with a triple, and Lindgren had three hits with a double.

The Pats scored nine in the bottom of the fifth to close it out on the eight-run rule.

The 16-12 win at Colfax over Pride of Bothell saw Lindgren bag four RBIs off three hits and Peterson book two RBIs off four hits. Druffel had three hits with a triple.

Nolan Johnson started for the Patriots, and Patrick Jacobs relieved him in the third. At that point Pride had posted a 10-5 lead with seven runs in the third.

The big comeback for the Pats went down in the fifth inning when they scored eight runs.