The Oak Harbor Legion baseball team opened its season with three wins this week.
Oak Harbor took two from Glacier Peak, 5-4 and 14-7, Tuesday, May 31, in Snohomish, then bumped Burlington-Edison 5-2 Thursday, June 2, in Coupeville.
Because the Oak Harbor High School baseball field is being refurbished, Oak Harbor will play most of its games on the road this summer. A few “home” games will be played at Robert Sherman Field in Coupeville.
Unlike past years, Oak Harbor is fielding only one Legion team this summer, an A-level squad of players 16 years old and younger. Since Oak Harbor has so few 17-year-olds in its program at the moment, coach Tyson VanDam is chosing not to run an AA team of older players.
This year’s team also includes several players from Coupeville High School.
The Wildcats began the summer by scoring two runs in the last inning of the opener for a thrilling come-from-behind win.
The rally began when Grant Schroeder boarded on an error. Cory Cameron followed with a single, and Jack Richter moved the runners up with a sacrifice. Ben Etzell’s fielder’s choice and Drew Chan’s single finished the scoring.
Richter doubled and Etzell tripled to help Oak Harbor score two runs in the first.
In the second, a walk, Anthony Stewart’s single and ground out scored a run.
Oak Harbor led 12-3 after three innings in the second game to cruise to the win.
A two-run triple by Zach Zimmer highlighted a four-run first. Singles by Steward and Austyn Walker added a run in the second.
Hits by Schroeder, Cameron, Richter and Mike Maletto spurred a seven-run third.
Walker doubled and Richter singled to drive in runs in the fourth.
Against Burlington, Schroeder led off with a first-inning single and eventually scored on an Etzell ground out.
Etzell added another RBI with a single in the third.
With the score tied 2-2, Oak Harbor took the lead for good with two runs in the fourth. Teddy Peterschmidt and Brandon Baily singled and scored on Stewart’s double.
Cameron’s RBI single in the sixth set the final score.
Oak Harbor plays at the Lynden Tournament this weekend, starting with games at 3:30 and 5:30 p.m. Saturday.
