Tonasket senior Wade DeTillian slides safely onto third base after stealing while Oroville third-baseman Nicky Perez waits for the ball from catcher Brody Naysnerski during the first game of Tonasket’s doubleheader against the Hornets on Wednesday, Apri

TONASKET – In two home doubleheader games, the Tonasket baseball team finished 2-0 over Oroville and 0-2 over Lake Roosevelt last week.

On Wednesday, April 16, the Tigers beat the Hornets 12-3 and 13-0. In the first game, Corbin Moser hit 1-3 with one run and three singles, Wade DeTillian hit 1-4 with three runs, five singles and two RBI, RJ Roeber hit 2-3 with three runs, five singles and one RBI and Dylan Fewkes hit 1-4 with two RBI. DeTillian pitched seven innings in which he allowed three hits, had five strikeouts and one walk.

“The guys played near perfect baseball in both games,” Stephen Williams, head coach, said. “They made all of their plays on defense and played very aggressively on offense. DeTillian was in command on the mound in game one and the team gave him the support he needed on defense. Whenever you only give one walk, you are going to be hard to beat and with five strikeouts, they just couldn’t get going offensively. He had some great support out of the whole team including a heads-up play from right-fielder Caleb Steinshauer who charged a soft liner to right, fielded it perfectly and then threw a strike to first and got the runner out. We like to squeeze our outfielders and force the other team to beat us deep. This time it paid off.”

In the second game, Ty Thornton hit 3-4 with three runs, two singles and one RBI, DeTillian hit 1-3 with one run and one RBI, Mo Brown hit 1-1 with one run and one single, Trent Turner hit 2-2 with three singles and one RBI, Jacob Hollingshead hit 1-2 with two runs and two singles and Fewkes hit 3-3 with three runs, three singles and two RBI. Hollingshead pitched five innings with five strikeouts, one walk and zero hits.

“Game two was the same with Hollingshead on the mound,” Williams said. “He had only the one walk and then proceeded to make a great pick off move to first and caught their runner off guard. Justin Dellinger then played the pickle perfectly with a great ball fake that froze him in his tracks. There were a lot of heads-up defense that game as well. Any no-hitter is going to be a team effort and this was certainly the case. When our pitchers are on and they get the defensive support I know we are capable of, we are going to be hard to beat. The bats came alive even more the second game and we were able to rack up a lot of runs very quickly. It was nice to see some of the younger guys like Turner swing the bat well and then run the bases equally well. As always, Thornton and Fewkes hit well also. It was a great night for the guys and we needed these wins.”

On Saturday, April 17, the Tigers lost at home to Lake Roosevelt 6-5 and 17-4. In the first game, Thornton hit 2-4 with one run and one single, DeTillian hit 1-4 with two runs and three singles, Roeber hit 2-4 with two runs, five singles and two RBI, Hollingshead hit 1-4 with one RBI and David Goyette hit 2-4 with two singles and one RBI. DeTillian pitched six innings with 10 strikeouts and four hits allowed.

“This was a very disappointing day for the guys,” Williams said. “We played for six innings and then let it go away in the seventh with some fielding, throwing and mental errors. As well as DeTillian pitched, he deserved that win. But Lake Roosevelt just did not throw in the towel and we did not make enough of a distance between us when we had the chance and let them hang around. We made too many mental errors in that game and it cost us in the end. Looking at the stats alone you would have thought we won because we played well enough to win. It was a case of where we just beat ourselves.”

In the second game, Roeber hit 1-3 with one run and Brown hit 1-2, a double to the left field fence, with two RBI. Fewkes pitched four innings with two strikeouts.

“I think the guys were so stunned by the outcome of the first game they just couldn’t pull it together for the second,” Williams said. “It will go down in the books as a hard lesson but one that I hope will stick with us and one that we will learn from.”

As of press time, the Tigers (0-6, 3-10) had not yet played in Manson on Tuesday, April 20. Their next game, a doubleheader against Cashmere, is on Saturday, April 24 at home.