The bats came to life in a big way for the Oak Harbor AA American Legion baseball team in Saturday’s doubleheader with Lynden.

Coach Jim Waller said the team has struggled a bit offensively this season, but none of that was evident as Oak Harbor upped its league record to 8-3 with a pair of victories.

In the first game, Jared Murdy tossed a five-hitter and his teammates backed the right-hander up with 11 hits good for an 11-3 victory.

The Wildcats played long ball in the nightcap pounding out 16 hits to complete the sweep with a 17-7 victory in a game called after six innings on the 10-run rule.

“Sometimes we tend to play down to the level of the competition, but I was glad to see us hit well in both games today,” Waller said.

Oak Harbor’s speed was evident in the first three innings of the opening game as the Wildcats swiped four bases while building a 3-0 lead.

Lynden came back with a run in the top of the fourth inning, but Oak Harbor answered with two additional runs in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 6-1.

Murdy tired a bit in the top of the sixth inning when a wild pitch and an error led to two Lynden runs.

However, the Wildcats blew the game open sending 11 batters to the plate in the bottom of the sixth scoring five runs to put the game away.

“I thought Jared threw the ball really well,” Waller said. “He threw strikes and that was the big thing for us, not walking guys.”

Marcus Naymik was 3 for 4 with a pair of RBI and Johnny Encinas was 2 for 4 with three runs scored and two RBI.

“We got some big hits when we needed them and played good defense when we needed to,” Waller said.

Triples by Alex Evans, Murdy and Ben Wolfe were the big blows

as part of the 16-hit attack in the nightcap.

Evans also stroked a pair of doubles in his 4 for 4 game at the

plate and drove in three runs.

Chris Reilly was 4 for 5 with three runs scored and Murdy went 2 for 3 with two runs scored.

Wolfe scored three times and was 2 for 4 at the plate.