Pippins Drop Exhibition Contest to NW Star
July 14, 2024 - West Coast League (WCL)
Yakima Valley Pippins News Release
YAKIMA, Washington - A ninth-inning rally didn't materialize, and the Yakima Valley Pippins fell 6-4 on Saturday in an exhibition game against the Northwest Star Academy.
The Pippins had runners on first and second with two outs in the ninth, but a fly out to center ended the game.
NW Star earned just its second victory over a WCL opponent of the summer, and earned its first win since July 6, when they defeated the Walla Walla Sweets.
The offense began early for the road team, as Mitchell Thoma-Britt, Tyler Eisenhut and Jace Nagler all came around to give the Nighthawks a 3-0 lead. An RBI sacrifice fly from Luke Porter helped the effort offensively for the Nighthawks.
Yakima Valley was unable to punch back offensively until the Nighthawks added another run an inning later. Thoma-Britt scored his second run in as many innings to give his team the 4-0 advantage. Eisenhut smacked a double into the outfield to bring in his teammate.
Yakima Valley scored two in the second to cut into the deficit, including one on a DJ Dillehay sacrifice fly.
Northwest Star was held scoreless until the sixth. One more came around as Cole Cuypers scored to make it 5-2 Nighthawks. However, Yakima Valley still had some fight left.
Another two-run inning for the Pippins closed the deficit. Jake Lockwood and Aidan Morrison scored, and Yakima Valley only trailed 5-4 headed into the final two frames. Lockwood and Morrison started the offense off with back-to-back singles, which were their first hits in nonleague play of the summer.
In the eighth, Northwest Star added its final run. A double from Thoma-Britt ended up putting the Nighthawks center fielder in scoring position. Then, an RBI single from Ryan Lopez gave the road team a 6-4 advantage.
On the mound, Keegan Edler made his first start of the 2024 Pippins campaign. He tossed three innings before Adam Brooks took over. The Spokane Falls Community College pitcher allowed four earned runs with four walks, three hits and two strikeouts.
Once Brooks entered the game, Yakima Valley trailed 4-0. However, he only allowed one earned run in his relief appearance. The 6-foot-3 sophomore finished with five of the Pippins pitching staff's 10 total punchouts and walked just one Nighthawk.
Two more arms stepped on the mound for the Pippins, as Will Merriott and Logan Smith combined for 3.0 innings. Smith finished up the game and allowed no runs with a strikeout.
Offensively, eight of the nine starters finished with at least one hit, as Morrison was the only Pippin with two hits in this game. He came into this contest after an 0-for-4 effort at the dish on Friday against the CCL Showcase team.
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