ARLINGTON — It’s a big week for the Arlington baseball team.
The Eagles find themselves in a three-game series with Marysville Pilchuck, which has won the past three Wesco 3A North titles. Arlington, which currently sits atop the league standings, is hoping to put an end to that streak.
On Tuesday, the Eagles got off to a good start. Arlington scored five runs in the first inning to defeat the Tomahawks 7-4 in Game 1 of the series at Arlington High School.
“Right now we’re both one and two (in the standings), so obviously it’s big that way,” said Arlington head coach Scott Striegel. “But it’s also big in that they won the league last year and they’ve been kind of the top dog for the last few years. Now, we’ve been playing pretty well and we’ve got to show ourselves, and prove to ourselves, that we’re just as good. This is a big series for us.”
Arlington (8-0 league, 10-3 overall) showed the importance of the game right from the get go. The Eagles tallied five runs in the bottom of the first inning on four hits — capped by a two-run single by Jack Sheward.
“Sheward had a big game at the plate, again,” Striegel said of the freshman, who was recently promoted to varsity. “He had a big base hit. It’s really his second time hitting at the varsity level. He hit on Friday and had another big base hit for us today.”
The five-run cushion was plenty for Arlington starter Avery Kindred, who scattered three hits and didn’t allow a run in six innings.
“Their starting pitcher was awesome. He threw really, really well,” said Marysville Pilchuck head coach Kurt Koshelnik. “You get a five-run lead you can pitch standing a little bit taller knowing that you have a little room for error.”
“All three starts he’s thrown really well. He’s not going to strike out 100 guys but he’s going to put the ball in play and we’ve got a really good defense,” Striegel said of Kindred, who struck out two batters on Tuesday. “We just play baseball. You don’t have to strike everybody out.”
Marysville Pilchuck (6-2, 9-4) made things interesting in the bottom of the seventh. The Tomahawks’ first five batters reached base as Marysville Pilchuck put up four runs on the scoreboard and brought the go-ahead run to the plate.
But Striegel brought in junior Branden Perdue who walked the first batter he faced before striking out the next to end the game.
“We didn’t exactly make things easy in the seventh,” Striegel said. “… They squared some balls up and hit them hard. Luckily, Branden came in and finished it off and did a good job.”
Perdue also helped out at the plate, going 2-for-4 including an RBI in the first-inning rally. Sheward (1-for-2) added two RBI and Gavin Rork also went 2-for-4 for Arlington, which tallied 10 hits in the game.
“Hitting’s contagious,” Striegel said. “Guys see the guy in front of them get a base hit and think they need to get one as well. Sometimes it’s not how hard you hit it but where you hit it.”
Nate Heckendorf and Alex Aumick each went 2-for-4 to lead the Tomahawks. Tristen Southard (1-for-3) added a two-run double and a run scored in Marysville Pilchuck’s late rally.
“I love the fight in our guys, but we’ve — a couple times now this year — dug ourselves some serious holes which we’ve had a tough time coming back from,” Koshelnik said. “That’s something we’re going to work on.”
Koshelnik said the Tomahawks still hope to take the series against Arlington, which continues Wednesday at Marysville Pilchuck and Friday back at Arlington.
“You could do the whole, ‘It’s just another game’ thing. No. This is first place against second place right now,” Koshelnik said. “Winning a series is huge at the end. We still have that in front of us.
“They’re good. They’re in first place. We’ve got two more against them. We’re going to get after them.”
At Arlington H.S.
WP: Avery Kindred. LP: Jacob Watts. S: Branden Perdue. Individual highlights: Marysville Pilchuck—Nate Heckendorf (2-4, RBI), Alex Aumick (2-4, R), Tristen Southard (1-3, 2 RBI, 2B, R, HBP); Arlington—Perdue (2-4, RBI), Jack Sheward (1-2, 2 RBI, BB), Gavin Rork (2-4). Records—Marysville Pilchuck 6-2 league, 9-4 overall. Arlington 8-0, 10-3.
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