It was a good weekend of baseball for the Trail AA Orioles and Senior AM Ford Orioles that took to Butler Park to play a series of exhibition games with the Northeast 49ers from Chewelah.
After dropping a pair of games 9-8 and 9-1 to the 49ers on Friday and Saturday, the AA Orioles would ride a strong performance on the mound from Colton Miracle to earn a 5-3 victory on Sunday.
The 49ers led the match 2-1 after two innings but a four-run rally in the third sealed a lead the O’s would not relinquish. Joe Gagnier led off the inning with a walk, and after a fly-out to short, three consecutive singles from Austin Tambellini, Tyler Atkinson and Derek Green would give the AA team a 3-2 lead. Nathan Soukeroff then stepped up and pounded a double into left centre to plate Green and Atkinson to make it 5-2 Trail.
The 49ers scored an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh but that was as close as they would get. Miracle would shut the Northeast bats down the rest of the way, giving up just six hits through seven, while striking out five for the victory. Soukeroff went 3-for-3 with two doubles and a walk, while Gagnier was 2-for-3 with a double.
In the previous match, the 49ers broke open a close 2-1 game, scoring seven runs in the final three innings to give Chewelah the 9-1 victory.
On Friday night, the 49ers scored seven runs in the fifth to take a 9-3 lead. Trail closed the gap and rallied for three runs in the eighth inning to make it 9-8 but could not score the tying run. Brendan Makay went 2-for-3 at the plate with two walks, two RBIs and two runs scored.
Meanwhile, the Sr. Orioles swept all its matches doing most of the damage in the late innings to cruise to 12-3 and 13-4 victories over the AA Orioles, and 12-4 and 8-1 wins over Chewelah.
The Orioles trailed the 49ers 4-2 on Saturday heading into the top of the seventh inning, however, the O’s would plate 10 runs on the strength of a run scoring double and a grand-slam home run by slugger Kyle Mace in his two appearances at the plate in the top of the seventh.
A similar scenario ended the 12-3 match with the AA Orioles the same morning. Tied 3-3 heading into the seventh and final inning, the Sr. O’s would plate nine runs to cruise to the 12-3 victory, where Mace singled and homered in his two at bats in the final inning. The Orioles were missing much of their regular line up through the weekend but young recruits performed well for the AM Ford Orioles.
A big weekend of baseball is on the horizon for both the AA Orioles and Senior Mens O’s. The AA Orioles open its Washington State American Legion play with a doubleheader on Saturday against Lewis and Clark at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. The AM Ford Orioles will play a four-game tilt against the Northwest Honkers from the PIL. The teams play a doubleheader Saturday at 4 and 6 p.m. and Sunday at 10 a.m. and noon at Butler Park.