By Martin Barrett
Pirates take a knee around Coach Locher
The Highline Pirate Boys’ Baseball Team won their second game in a row and improved their record with 4-3. The victory for rookie Coach Jonnny Locher over the Evergreen team held to an emerging pattern. The Pirates jumped out to an early lead with solid hitting early in the game.
Hawke Hansen went 3-for-4 at the plate to lead the Pirates. Locher’s team is not a longball club. Keller threatened the fence in the second inning with a long ball to the left field that yielded a double, but the Pirates’ strength is consistent placement into open spaces in the outfield and sharply hit grounders in the gaps. Highline had a total of 8 hits. Getting on base and then showing disciplined and aggressive running has been the ticket. The Pirates made 9 attempts to steal, successful on 8 tries. Cameroon Keller led them with three thefts.
Hansen got the win for the Pirates. He was aided in the shutout by Gus Schafer and Keller. Together the crew threw 8 strikeouts while giving up just one walk.
Locher has a team focused on the field. In this game, they committed no errors, making the Wolverines work for the 3 hits they did acquire.
The Pirates take the mound again on Friday night, 6 PM, at Foster High School.
