Saturday, May. 10, 2008

Bombers win district baseball semifinal with flair

By Kevin Anthony, Herald staff writer

About the only suspense Bomber Field has seen this season involves foul balls sailing into that oh-so-close parking lot and which inning the Richland baseball team will hit double figures on the scoreboard.

But Friday evening's CBL 4A district semifinal between the Bombers and Wenatchee Panthers overflowed with enough drama to last Richland fans into next spring.

The Bombers' offense, which averaged nearly 12 runs a game during the season, finally woke up in the seventh and -- with a little help from Wenatchee's suddenly wild pitching -- opened the door to a 7-6 comeback victory.

"We couldn't really get anything going," said first baseman Cody Shepherd. "We hit the ball well, but right to people."

Richland will play host to Pasco, which won twice in Moses Lake, at 1 p.m. today in the district final, with the winner guaranteed a berth to state.

The loser will play the winner of today's Wenatchee-Moses Lake game (10 a.m., Bomber Field) at 4 p.m. for the district's second seed and a playoff with the Greater Spokane League No. 2 for another entry to state.

The defending state champion Bombers (20-1) nearly found themselves on the long, loser-out road to get back to state, trailing 6-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh, having been shut out the previous three innings by Wenatchee sophomore reliever Ryan Reese.

But the heart of the Richland order -- Kevin Lathim, Brett Jacobs, Shepherd and Josh Rapacz -- hit consecutive singles to plate two runs. A hit batter and two walks scored two more runs before Jeremy Barwick, hitting in the No. 9 hole, ended his 3-for-3 day with a flare to shallow left that fell in behind a drawn-in infield and scored the winning run.

The Bombers haven't had too many close calls this season, and Shepherd admitting the dugout wasn't brimming with confidence heading into that last at-bat, especially after Wenatchee stuck a pair of insurance runs on the board in the top of the frame.

"I wasn't sure what to think, but I knew we had to put some hits together," said Shepherd, who doubled in a run in the third inning and finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs.

"We didn't have a whole bunch of luck that last inning," said Wenatchee coach Ed Knaggs, whose team needed a 9-3 win over Eisenhower earlier in the day just to reach the semifinals. It would have been his first win against Richland since 1996.

"I told the team before the game we gotta swing it with 'em a little bit," Knaggs said, "because they're going to swing it."

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