Patriots baseball again ends

A long American Legion season for the Pullman Patriots came to an end Sunday when they sustained their second loss at the regional round at Issaquah High School.

Yakima Valley defeated the Patriots 5-2 to knock the Pullman club out of the state title hunt. Qualification format for the 16 teams at the four state regional events was to win two games before they lost two games.

The loss to Yakima Valley Sunday followed an 11-7 bow to Pacific Tech of Longview in the first round of playoff at Issaquah.

The Patriots, which is made up of players from Pullman, Colfax, Asotin, St. John and Oakesdale, earned the trip to Issaquah with a 2-1 finish last weekend in the district tourney at A.K. Jackson field behind Shadle Park.

Against Pac Tech Saturday, the game locked up in a 1-1 tie after five innings. The Pac broke a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning and then hammered out six runs in the seventh to take control.

Matt Peterson had the start for the Pats Saturday against the Pac and dueled with Mike Sulllivan in the deadlock for the first five innings.

Justin Cillay pitched in the seventh, and Pat Jacobs relieved him in the eighth.

Tech, a perennial contender in the Legion finals, had 10 hits in the game.

Pullman out-hit Tech with 14 hits. Hunter Redinger topped the 14-hit Patriot offense with two doubles and a single.

Jeremy Druffel had three hits for the Pats with a double. Lance Lindgren and Jackson Webb each had two hits.

Tech’s Lars Radar cracked a three-run homer in the seventh inning when the Longview-Kelso club broke out six runs.

Steve Miller soloed in the sixth to snap the 1-1 duel being thrown by Peterson and Sullivan.

Sunday morning at Issaquah, the Pats went up against Yakima Valley in the elimination game.

Pullman staked a 1-0 lead over four innings, but the Yakima club scored four runs in the sixth to take the lead.

Dusty Lyons had the start for the Pats, and Mason Van Lith relieved him in the eighth.

Noel Gonzales pitched all the way for Yakima to get the win. He allowed the Patriots just five hits.

Brennan Ball doubled in the bottom of the ninth to score one run, but the rally stopped.

Yakima’s four-run breakout in the fifth inning was capped with a two-run hit by John Piper.

Pullman booked five hits in the elimination game with Druffel, Lance Lindgren, Dusty Lyons and Robert McIntosh tagging singles to go with Ball’s double.

The 0-2 at Issaquah finished Pullman’s season at 29-25.

Yakima then took its 1-1 mark into the final elimination round and edged Pacific Tech for the other state ticket out of Issaquah. They start the state show with a 33-16 season record.

Yakima will have two entrants at the state show in neighboring Selah.

The Pats’ 0-2 regional finish fell one game short of matching the record from last year when they booked a 1-2 in the regional as the host team hosted at Colfax. In the last game, the Pats were hammered by the same Tech team which dropped them in the first game at Issaquah this year.