The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

PASCO - The Bulldogs were thrilled Tuesday night after winning their first league games of the season during a double-header against Tri-Cities Prep.

Cold and rainy conditions have postponed many games for Dayton this spring. Tuesday's games in Pasco were the team's first league matches of the year, and they took top scores in both: 17-6 in the first game and 17-6 in the second.

"I'm just so happy," said Dayton head coach Sal Benavides on Tuesday. "Everything moved to perfection. It was fun to watch."

Dayton's baseball team this year is young, but everyone has been pulling his weight. To start off the evening, juniors Colton Bickelhaupt and Joey Schlachter took defense in pitching and catching respectively.

The Bulldogs began game one ahead 6-0 in the first inning but "kinda fell apart in the second," Benavides said. Dayton had all three of their errors for the game in that second inning.

But in the third, sophomore Wyatt Frame hit a triple, and the Bulldogs managed to tie up the score 6-6 to get back into the game.

" From then on, they played the game the way it's supposed to be," Benavides said. "Everybody was hitting in the lineup."

And four sacrifice bunts helped move runners onto bases and around through to score in a smooth round of plays. "That's good baseball," Benavides said.

Game two in Pasco saw up-and-coming freshman Lowden Smith take the mound, backed by Schlachter, who remained as catcher.

Lowden has pitched 28 strike outs in the last two Dayton games. With seven pitched Tuesday against TCP, he's at 35 strike outs in the last three games.

"And he's only a freshman, so things are looking really bright for us this year," Benavides said.

The second game of the evening was a real team effort. Junior Garett Turner got the team's blood pumping in the fourth inning with two RBI's and a double. Another freshman, Logan Hays, had three big hits and a sacrifice.

"I was pretty pleased with the bottom of the line-up today," Benavides said.

But Schlachter was the man of the hour with seven hits altogether for the night and three RBI's in the second game.

Benavides is feeling more confident going into the line up of league games coming as the season wears on. The Bulldogs had been worried about TCP after they beat Touchet "pretty good" earlier in the year, the coach said.

But a cancelled game against the tough rivals earlier in the season gave Dayton more time to practice. "I was praying we'd a least split with them," Benavides said. "But once we won that first game, we got all pumped up. "

The Bulldogs played at Colton on Saturday in a nonleague game and won 9-6 in eight innings during the first game.

In the second game, the coach decided to move kids around and experiment with different positions and plays, which cost the team. The final score was 20-3.

"They killed us," Benavides said. "But it was worth the loss, letting the guys play somewhere else so they'd get a little experience."

Colton had 19 walks altogether in that final game, scoring 12 runs on 13 walks in the first inning.

Dayton also played a make- up game against Pomeroy last Wednesday.

Game one was a close match, but Pomeroy took a lead with 15-14. In the second game, Dayton won by a landslide with 11-2.

The Bulldogs play again on Saturday against DeSales in Walla Walla at 11 a.m.

Dayton v. Tri-Cities Prep (April 12)

Game One:

17-7

Dayton 3, 3, 5, 5, 1 17 Runs, 14 Hits, 3 Errors

TCP 0, 6, 0, 0, 0 6 Runs, 7 Hits, 1 Error

Game Two:

17-6

Dayton 6, 0, 3, 4, 0, 4 17 Runs, 9 Hits, 1 Error

TCP 3, 1, 0, 0, 2, 0 6 Runs, 7 Hits, 3 Errors

Dayton v. Pomeroy (April 6)

Game One:

14-15

Dayton 1, 1, 0, 0, 3, 5, 4 14 Runs, 11 Hits, 7 Errors

Pomeroy 4, 0, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3 15 Runs, 9 Hits, 2 Errors

Game Two:

11-2

Dayton 0, 3, 0, 2, 2, 1, 3 11 Runs, 7 Hits, 1 Error

Pomeroy 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0 2 Runs, 4 Hits, 2 Errors