The Oak Harbor Legion baseball team remains one game out of first place after its 9-4 win at Burlington #2 Tuesday, July 5.
The win upped Oak Harbor’s league mark to 8-2 with four games left. Bellingham leads the Legion A standings with a 9-1 record. Oak Harbor (13-12 overall) plays a double header at Anacortes (3-7 in league) Thursday, July 7, beginning at 5 p.m.
Before the win over Burlington #2, Oak Harbor dropped all four of its games at the Anacortes Wood Bat Tournament last weekend in an AA event that featured team with players one year older than the Wildcats.
Coach Tyson VanDam was pleased with his troops and their effort against the older teams: “We played some of our best ball of the year.”
In the win over Burlington #2, Oak Harbor erupted for six runs in the first inning thanks to key hits by Grant Schroeder, Ben Etzell and Morgan Payne. Triples by Andrew Snavely in the third and Jack Richter in the fourth helped Oak Harbor tack on several more runs.
Schroeder and Richter combined to toss a four hitter.
In the Anacortes tournament opener against Sedro-Woolley, Oak Harbor led 2-0 going into the seventh when the Cubs mixed three hits, a walk and an error for a five-run, game-winning rally and a 5-2 win.
Zach Zimmer doubled and Payne singled in the second inning when Oak Harbor scored both its runs. Zimmer also pitched, blanking Sedro-Woolley over the first six innings.
Oak Harbor lost to host Anacortes 7-1 in game two. Snavely started on the mound and picked up six strikeouts in the first three innings. Etzell paced the offense with two hits.
In the next game, Bellingham blanked the Wildcats 5-0. Richter took a two-hitter into the fifth when Bellingham scored three runs to take control. Anthony Stewart topped the offense with a pair of singles.
The Burlington Sox scored six runs in the top of the seventh to finish off Oak Harbor 10-1 in the tournament finale. Snavely had the Wildcats’ only hit.
