On Saturday, April 2, the Issaquah High C baseball team matched up against Newport High. Last time these two teams squared up, IHS had a tough rout 13-1. On Saturday, Issaquah was looking for revenge to attempt to even up the score against Newport. Issaquah’s coach Vince Maughan says that “we really worked on our mistakes and what we did wrong last game. We had a great practice yesterday, mostly hitting in the cages. We also hit today, mainly working on our approach and not doing too much.” IHS definitely got their revenge this game.

In the top of the first, Issaquah loaded the bases with one out, and freshman first baseman Jacob Swanson got on via an error, getting the Eagles on the board first. Then, with two outs, infielder Cole Clifford laced a two-run single to left, making the score 3-0 Eagles early. This would be all the scoring that they produced or needed for the rest of the game. On the mound for the Eagles was freshman righty Ernie Whelan, who got a quick one, two, three inning in the first.

After the Eagles went down easy in the top of the second, Whelan got into a bit of trouble in the bottom of the second. After walking the first two batters, he gave up a bunt single which loaded the bases. Whelan said, “I felt pretty good out there today, but my command was a little off. I just feel like I got a little carried away in the second, just too many walks.” Luckily, he got the next batter to fly out to left, without a run coming home. And then, freshman shortstop Will Hawk snagged a liner at him and quickly threw to third to get the stellar double play to get Whelan out of the inning. Hawk prepares for each game by “getting mentally and physically prepared before each game, as well as stretches and warm-ups.”  I asked Hawk how he prepares defensively each game. Hawk responded, “I just have to get mentally and physically prepared before each game, as well as stretches and warm-ups.” This would end up being an extremely vital play later in the game.

Then, after another one, two, three top of the third for the Eagles, Newport got to Whelan with a sacrifice fly with runners on second and third to make the score 3-1. After a fairly quiet fourth inning, Newport got to newly entered freshman pitcher Mason Uchimura with a lead off triple, and then an RBI single to make the score 3-2 Eagles. However, in the bottom of the sixth inning, Uchimura was able to strike out the last two batters of the inning after a one out rally that landed two runners in scoring position.

Finally, in the bottom of the seventh inning, pitcher Tyler Miller came on to shut the door for the Eagles. After an easy first out, Newport had a single and then a balk by Miller, which put the runner in scoring position with one out. Newport then got another infield hit and a double steal which put two runners in scoring position with less than two outs. However, Miller was able to slam the door on Newport’s hope on a strikeout and then another nice play by shortstop Hawk. The Eagles ended up edging Newport by a score of 3-2. Coach Maughan also commented after the game that “I thought we got a little unlucky offensively with a lot of hard-hit balls where Newport made sliding catches.” He also said, “I thought our pitching did really well. We through a lot of strikes which gave us a chance.” Issaquah now improves to 7-1 on the season, and Newport drops to 5-1, suffering its first loss of the year. The game was a full team effort with great defense and just enough offense for the Eagles to get the victory and some well-deserved revenge.