Stanley, Bradley lift WV
Good pitching may beat good hitting, but then West Valley had a little bit of both Thursday in a 10-5 Greater Spokane League baseball victory over Mead.
WV hurler Alex Stanley was superb for six innings and Greg Bradley’s fifth-inning grand slam proved the final indignity for the visiting Panthers.
But the adage doesn’t factor the importance of defense, and a breakdown by the normally sure-handed Panthers didn’t help. All four of the Eagles’ third-inning runs were unearned.
The result, coupled with Central Valley’s 3-0 upset over University, put Ferris back alone in first place and created a three-way tie for second among WV, Mead and U-Hi.
“We’ve played clean ball all year and today, defensively, we faltered,” said Panthers coach Jason Reich. ” We’re averaging one error per game. Today we made four. That’s uncharacteristic.”
The aberration wasn’t lost on Eagles coach Don O’Neal, whose team has had its defensive struggles at times this year. Against Mead it committed four.
“It’s nice to take advantage of someone else for once,” he said. “We’ve given up a lot this year, for whatever reason.”
The difference was Stanley, who kept Mead’s normally potent hitters off-stride until the final inning.
Mixing three pitches, using both sides of the plate effectively and benefiting from a generous strike zone, he allowed four hits through six innings, no more than one in any frame.
“Lots of off-speed,” Stanley explained, “lots of curves and a fastball. And the grand slam definitely helped out a bit.”
The only run he allowed, before tiring, was unearned when first baseman Bradley made an errant throw back to the mound following a pickoff attempt.
But Bradley more than made up for it with his opposite-field blow, rendering Mead’s four-run final inning a case of too little, too late.
Bradley faced a two-out situation when he came to bat with the bases loaded and quickly found himself in a 0-2 hole. But he worked the count before clearing the fence in right-center.
“I was looking to clutch up and just poke something to the opposite field,” Bradley said. “I just tried to stay in there and tried not to end the inning. I lucked out.”
What hurt Mead in the third was a dropped ball on a potential double play that led to WV’s runs. Bryan Peterson hit a two-run single.
In the seventh, Mead’s Connor Moore doubled home three runs.
With four games remaining, the league’s top six teams – in various matchups – end the season next week with home-and-home sets.
At the same time, four other teams are scrambling for two 4A district playoff spots.
•In other games, Nick Lallier went 3 for 3 with first- and sixth-inning RBIs and Jake Swantko pitched a 3-0 shutout at home as CV (8-8) ended U-Hi’s (11-3) brief stay atop the GSL. … Nic Fowler gave up just two hits as host Mt. Spokane (10-4) posted a 10-0 win over Shadle Park (1-13). Jarek Cunningham doubled twice and drove in three runs. … Anthony Voelker went 3 for 4 with a solo home run in the fifth and North Central (8-6) scored five unearned runs to win 8-3 at Cheney (1-15). … Ben Seebeck’s two-run first-inning home run and Brandon Arnold’s solo blow in the fifth offset a grand slam by David Kries as visiting Lewis and Clark (6-8) notched a 9-6 win over Gonzaga Prep (6-8). … Ferris (12-2) won 14-1 at Rogers (5-9) in five innings. Pat Burke hit two doubles and a triple. Chad Berland doubled twice, driving in four runs and scoring three.