East County rivals Precision Pipe, of Montesano, and Elma Pharmacy met on the baseball field again, but it was a South Bend pitcher who took the spotlight on June 13.
Sophomore Drew Rose, who powered South Bend’s baseball team through its first varsity season on the mound this past spring, showed his form at Vessey Field by striking out nine in a two-hit complete-game performance for Precision Pipe.
Combined with a consistent offense, Precision Pipe rolled to a 9-0 win over Elma Pharmacy in a Washington American Legion Area 2 South AA league game. Precision finished the night with a non-league win, 8-4.
“We have a few younger guys coming up, who we want to give an opportunity to and we’re moving a few guys around,” Precision Pipe head coach Jesse Marlow said. “We’re trying a few different things, doing some new things to pick up where we left off in the varsity season (this past spring).”
Rose was in full control on the mound and had his breaking pitches working for strikes and missed swings. Three of his nine strikeouts came with the batter’s bat still on their shoulders, all of them from the sweeping hook that starts in on the right-handed batter and ends in the strike zone.
Elma’s Brady Shriver had a line-drive single in the first inning for what turned into his team’s first of only two hits in the game. AJ Whipple’s two-out single up the middle in the seventh inning was the other hit.
“The first half of the game, we talked about first-pitch strikes; he was getting behind batters, but getting himself out of it,” Marlow said. “He made an adjustment in the middle of the game and pitched very well from there. He had an outstanding game. Offensively, we chipped away in every inning.”
At the plate, Precision scored in five of its six innings and knocked out starter Colton French for relief pitcher Shriver with two outs in the second inning. Most of the damage came at the bookends of the lineup.
Leadoff hitter Carson Klinger, a second-team all-Evergreen 1A outfielder last spring, had three hits and scored twice. Precision’s No. 9 hitter, Braden Dohrmann, matched Klinger with three hits and drove in two runs as well.
Matt Plato added two hits, including a leadoff double in the sixth, and an RBI for Precision.
In the non-league game, several players got mound time during the nightcap — Payson Parker, Teegan Zillyett, Kobe Galliger and Carter Olsen for Precision and Micah Swint and D.J. Coonse for Elma.
Starting on June 22, Precision Pipe (2-1 league, 5-1 overall) will be at the Selah Tournament for four games. Elma Pharmacy is scheduled to return to league play on Friday, June 23 against Centralia.
