The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON – Losses last week to Liberty Christian and Tri-Cities Prep knocked the Dayton-Waitsburg baseball team out of their third-place standing in the league and forced a 3-inning playoff game against DeSales this Tuesday.

DW lost to DeSales 1-0 with, each team having five hits and one error. DW played well defensively, but baserunning errors took the team out of the game.

On May 2, the Bulldogs battled hard in a losing effort, dropping both games to Liberty Christian. A knee injury to Junior Helm in the first inning while stealing second base forced an already depleted roster into making more last minute changes. This gave L-C the edge they needed to beat DW 4-2. L-C had 8 hits and 4 errors. DW had 6 hits and 1 error.

Kyle Gradwohl hit three singles, with Jeffrey Dieu hitting two more singles for two RBI’s. Jacob Dunn pitched for 4 2/3 innings with eight strike outs.

In the second game, DW was able to outhit L-C 11-8, but errors prevented a win. Down 12-0 after three innings, DW battled back, scoring seven runs in the fourth inning, followed by three additional runs in the remaining innings, but could not catch up. DW lost 14-10, getting 11 hits and 10 errors in the struggle.

Chris Philbrook led DW batters with a double, two singles and four RBI’s. Kyle Gradwohl followed with a double and a single, and Jacob Dunn hit two singles.

“DW has had a great season so far leaving last year’s winless season behind us,” Coach Shane Loper said after the L-C series.

DW traveled to Tri-Cities to face an undefeated Tri-Cities Prep team Saturday, and were unable to pull off a win in the double header. DW lost 11-1 and 13-3. In the first game Dayton had only three hits and was plagued with five errors, while TCP had 7 hits and just 1 error. The second game ended with D/W putting up three hits and seven errors versus TCP’s 10 hits and three errors.

Liberty Christian Game 1

Liberty Christian     2  0  0  0  0  0  0   2    8    4

Dayton/Waitsburg   0  2  0  0  1  1  -    4    6    1

Pitchers:      J. Dunn (4 2/3 innings) 8 Ks LOSS,       A. Loper closed      McClure 6 Ks WIN 

Hits:           J. Helm, K. Gradwohl 3, B. Boudrieau, J. Dieu 2, Philbrook RBI:         J. Dieu 2 

Game 2        

Liberty Christian    0  0  0  7  1  0  2   10  11  10

Dayton/Waitsburg   3  6  3  0  2  0  -    14   8    2

Pitchers:     K Gradwohl 6 Ks LOSS (4 1/3 innings) ,      A. Loper closed; Sullivan 4 Ks WIN 

Hits:           J. Dieu, B. Miller, K. Gradwohl 2 (1 double), J. Dunn 2, C. Philbrook 3 (1 double), B. Boudrieau

RBIs:          K. Gradwohl 1, J. Dunn 2, C. Philbrook 4, J. Dieu 2, B. Boudrieau 1 

Game 1 @ TCP

Visitors          1  0  0  0  0   1    3    5

Home            2  1  6  2  -   11   7    1

Pitcher:          K. Gradwohl (Loss) 3 Ks, B. Boudrieau (3rd), D. Swan (4th)1 K

                        Marcado (WIN) 6 Ks

Home Run: K. Gradwohl; Hits: K. Gradwohl 2, J. Williams 1; RBIs: J Williams 1

Game 2 @ TCP

Visitors          0   2   0  1   0    3     3     7

Home              4   0   3  4   2    13   10   1

Pitchers:        J. Dunn (Loss) 4 Ks, A. Loper (4)                         Ritala (WIN) 8 Ks

Hits:  J. Williams 1, J. Dunn 2 RBIs: J. Dunn 2

Play-off game for 4th place (D-W vs. DeSales)

D-W                0   0  0     0     5     1

DeSales          0   0  1     1     5     1

Pitchers:        K. Gradwohl (LOSS) 4 Ks; C. McCaw (WIN) 2 Ks

Hits:  K. Gradwohl 1, J. Dunn 1, J. Dieu 1, A. Loper 1, N. Dougherty 1