The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON - The Dayton Bulldogs handily defeated the St. John-Endicott-La- Crosse-Washtucna Eagles in two games last Tuesday, first blowing away the competition, 10-0, and then beating them, 8-4.

Head coach Sal Benavides said the Dogs had a lot of hits early in the first game that gave them the edge over the Eagles.

He was right -- the Bulldogs had eight hits in that first inning.

Col ton Bi cke lhaupt pitched the first game for the Dogs that resulted in a no-hitter.

In the second game, Benavides put sophomore Lowden Smith on the mound with the hopes of blowing the competition away in the second game as well.

"This kid will dominate them," Benavides said.

What also helped the Dogs in the first game was a triple and a double from Bickelhaupt and a Garett Turner double that came out early, Benavides said.

In the first game, Bickelhaupt's sharp pitching ended in no runs for the Eagles and the games was called at 10-0 after just five innings.

"I thought it was going to be a pretty good game," said Bulldog Robert Loper. "We practice a lot and we evolve as a family. (In the second game) we'll just have to keep our heads up."

However, as the innings continued in the second game, the Bulldogs were caught sleeping on the bases and in the outfield and that led to errors that allowed the Eagles to get some runs on the scoreboard.

The second game started out just like the first. The Bulldogs got in some great hits, including a home run by Hayden Fullerton that went over the fence in the third inning.

At the top of the fourth, the Dogs still held the Eagles to 8-0, and it looked as though it was going to be another quick victory for the Dogs.

But, an Eagle batter got a hit and then continued to steal second and later third bases, capitalizing on Bulldog errors. A batter brought the first Eagle in and allowed the away team to get a point on the board.

This opened the floodgates for the Eagles and gave them some confidence at the plate.

The Eagles began to actually get batters on bases and in the seventh inning field errors by the Dogs allowed three more runners across home plate to close the scoreboard gap, 8-4, at the end of the seventh.

This was the Dogs' last home game in regular league play. Smith pitched a complete game that day and gave up four hits and four runs. He made 14 strikeouts and had three walks.

The Dogs had two RBIs on four runs and made two errors. They had eight runs on eight hits. Turner had five hits for the day. Wyatt Frame, Bickelhaupt and Smith all had three hits for the day. Fullerton had two hits. Joe Yenney had one hit.