The Orcas Viking baseball team rolled up their sleeves and went to work on Saturday, March 21 at Buck Field against the University Prep Pumas out of Seattle, Washington. Though Orcas lost 18 – 3 in their opening game of the season, the team played well overall.
Co-Coach Joe Duenn said, “This was their first game out and the guys suffered from nerves in the second and third innings. They made more fielding errors than they needed to, but that’s to be expected when you’re shaking off the dust and getting your game on.”
The Orcas Vikings used three pitchers on Saturday and they did well, holding the Pumas to primarily ground balls and manageable fly balls. Offensively, Duenn was encouraged. “We had some good hits and some nice base runs. I was heartened by that, and the guys were starting to gel by the end of the fifth inning. We lost in points but we gained in working together as a team.”
The three pitchers – Tyler Nigretto, Robbie Padbury, and Brad Bruland – all had about 50 pitches across the plate for the Vikings.
Statistically, the Vikings had four walks, struck out four times, had six hits total, and seven errors.
In batting, Nigretto went two for three with one stolen base while Sam Sare went one for two with a double and two RBI’s. Willie Eagan went one for three and Padbury went one for two with a walk and Daniel Jannsen went one for two. Bruland had two walks.
The University Prep Pumas had 13 hits and was struck out by the Vikings four times. The Pumas also had one extra base hit, while the rest were all singles.
Co-coach Shawn McGarry commented, “Attitude-wise, the guys did well. We just need to work some kinks out. We had a lot of good going for us, just lots of errors occurred in those two innings.”
The Orcas Viking baseball team plays again this Saturday, March 28 at La Conner.