Baseball splits with Mepo

It was a tale of two games on Monday night.

The Washington baseball team hosted Mediapolis for a nonconference doubleheader, and after taking an 8-4 victory in the opening game, the Demons were held at bay in the nightcap, with the Bulldogs claiming a 9-4 victory.

The doubleheader split puts Washington at 10-7 on the season, marking the third straight doubleheader split for the Demons.

In the opening game, the Demon bats were hot from the get-go, as three consecutive two-out singles scored Colin Zear to give the Demons an early lead.

Washington continued its hot hitting in the second, with a leadoff single from Michael Ellingson.

A bunt single from Noah Enfield put two runners on, and a fielder?s choice gave the Demons two on and one out in the frame.

Michael Gier singled to score Enfield, while a sacrifice fly from Zear scored courtesy runner Chris Dickel.

?We ended up cracking around 13 hits,? Washington baseball head coach Nathan Miller said. ?They were really battling deep, and we were doing a good job of keeping the bat in the zone.?

Mediapolis got three back in the top of the third, tying the game up at three, but a passed ball allowed Jacob Hall to cross the plate in the bottom of the third, putting Washington back on top.

Mepo tied the game up again in the fifth, but the Demons got the ball rolling again in the bottom of the sixth.

A passed ball gave the Demons a lead, and they followed that up with a pair of RBI singles from Zach Londberg and Dakota Kron.

After the Demons loaded the bases, Ellingson drew a walk, scoring the final run for Washington, giving them the victory.

?It was a good team win,? Miller said ?We played pretty solid defense the whole game. They are a good team and we knew we?d have a battle on our hands. Of the four runs we gave up, a couple of them were unearned.?

On the mound, Londberg pitched a full seven innings in the game, giving up six hits and not issuing a walk, striking out one.

?Zach did a great job battling and kept it on the back, outside part of the plate,? Miller said. ?(Mediapolis) had a hard time adjusting.?

In game two, the Mediapolis pitcher put the hammer down on the Demon batters, only giving up a smattering of hits to the Demons.

Mepo used a double steal in the third to score a run, before Josh Osborne sent a ball over the left field fence for a two-run homer, giving the Bulldogs a 3-0 lead.

The Demons opened the bottom of the fifth with a double from Londberg, while Aaron Vittetoe followed him, sending a shot to the left field fence, scoring Londberg.

The luck didn?t continue for the Demons, as walks and errors came back to haunt them in the sixth, as they gave up six runs.

?There was miscommunication between second and short, and it allowed the (first run), and the only two runs they really earned were off the homerun,? Miller said. ?The six runs they got in the sixth inning were off three walks, a hit batter and two errors mixed in with a couple of base hits, we gave them a bunch of outs.?

Washington looked to rally in the bottom of the seventh, scoring three runs in the frame, but it proved to not be enough as they fell in the contest.

?That?s our Achilles? heel,? Miller said. ?These routine errors that keep happening, we have to stop them. If we want to take a step further, we have to stop these errors.?

Jacob Hall started game 2 for the Demons, and gave up two hits and three earned runs in 5 1/3 innings.

?We have five guys who have been throwing really well,? Miller said. ?I like guys starting once a week, and so getting a little bullpen action is important. (On Tuesday) we?ll be throwing Michael Gier, and he?ll still be on a 60-pitch count, so we are just looking for four good innings from him. Matthew Wheeler will be the first guy out of the pen.?

Offensively, Ryan Loy notched four hits on the night, while Londberg had three hits in game one to go with two in the second contest.

Washington will have a single varsity game against Mid-Prairie at home on Tuesday night, with junior varsity scheduled for a 5:30 start.