In a weekend in which both teams saw opportunities to win the North Region title outright come and go, the Bellevue College baseball team and Skagit Valley College split their regular season series two games apiece. The split left both teams finishing at 16-8 in league play and a share of the North Region title. A third team, Everett, was rained out and could conceivably be a third team to share the region title if they win all four games against Olympic this Monday and Tuesday.
On Friday May 13, Bellevue’s Cody Anderson was dominant, striking out 13 batters to lead Bellevue to a 7-1 win. Anderson, the lefty who has signed with Washington State, fell one short of striking out 100 batters, ending regular season play with 99. Anderson is the third Bellevue pitcher in the last five years to win the NWAC strikeout total (Nick Kiel, 93 in 2014, Adrian Sampson, 107 in 2012).
After spotting Skagit with a 1-0 lead, Bellevue’s offense continued a consistent stream of hits throughout the game as Anderson was in control pitching-wise. The ‘dogs tacked on runs in the third, fifth, sixth, and eighth innings to win. Austin Pinorini went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI’s while Eli Gallo had three hits as well.
In game two, Bellevue up 3-0 gave up a critical four-run fourth to Skagit Valley on a key double by Skagit’s Max Campbell and an error. Suddenly down 4-3, the offense was stymied and could not come back.
After returning home late on Friday evening, the teams went back at it the next day on Saturday May 14, with Skagit winning the opener 3-2 in 11 innings. The thriller was a pitcher’s duel between two of the top pitchers in the North in Bellevue’s Dominic DeMiero and Skagit’s David Stealy. The ‘dogs came back to tie the game late in the eighth on a key RBI hit by Joe Wainhouse. Zach Usselman was dominant in relief and fell victim to the short game as Skagit delivered two consecutive sacrifice bunts in the 11th to win the game. In the nightcap, Bellevue had a comfortable 6-1 lead before things got interesting in the top of the ninth as Skagit put up four runs and had runners at the corners before Bellevue finally recorded the last out. Lawyer Braun had three hits while Danny Torlai turned in his second solid start in two weeks by giving up only four hits and an unearned run in six innings of work. The 6-6 righty who has not started on the mound since his high school days has given up only seven hits and one earned run in 14 innings of work as a starter.
Bellevue ends regular season play with a 32-16 record. It is the second most wins in a season in the last five years following a 35-12 record in 2012.
Last Updated May 16, 2016
