Mixing timely hits with Snohomish mistakes, the Oak Harbor Legion AA baseball team thumped the visiting 96ers 11-1 in six innings Tuesday, July 3.

The Wildcats raised their league record to 6-6 (9-12 overall) and kept their slim hopes of earning a district berth alive. Three teams advance and Oak Harbor is in fifth with four games left, three games behind a three-way tie for second among Lynden, Ferndale and Snohomish.

Oak Harbor goes to Snohomish Thursday, July 5, and plays two games with Lynden next week.

Snohomish pitchers hit five batters, walked six and gave up seven hits to Oak Harbor. The Wildcats used a little of each to score six runs in the second inning.

Oak Harbor started the second with three straight infield hits, the first from Brent Mertins. Andrew Snavely and David Kusnick followed with bunt singles to load the bases. Mertins scored the first run on a wild pitch. The other five came from one walk (Anthony Stewart), two hit batters (Nate Stanford and Jack Richter) and two sacrifice flies (Mike Maletto and Grant Schroeder).

Kusnick walked in the third and scored after two errors.

With two outs in the fourth, an error to Cory Cameron and a walk to Mertins set up Snavely’s two-run single.

In the sixth with two outs, Kusnick boarded on an error and eventually scored on a wild pitch, Stewart singled, Stanford was hit by a pitch, Maletto walked and Richter was hit by a pitch to force in the 11th run.

Richter pitched a six hitter, stranding eight Snohomish base runners, striking out three and walking three.

Snavely led the offense with two hits and three RBI, and Maletto had the only extra-base hit, a double.