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KENNEWICK -- The good news for the Kennewick Bandits is they seem to have played through their recent rash of booted balls and botched throws.
The bad news is all those miscues have traveled from their hands and arms into their heads, and they've spread from the field to the basepaths.
The Bandits threw away scoring chances in four innings Tuesday night, and that was too deep a hole to escape in a sweep at the hands of the Yakima Valley Pepsi Pak, 10-8 and 3-2 at Southridge High.
With the wins, the Pak (15-3) moves ahead of Kennewick (14-4) atop the Central Washington League standings. The two teams square off for two more today in Selah.
"We ran ourselves out of two innings at least," said disappointed Bandits manager Gary Key. "We just weren't ready to play."
They certainly weren't ready for Jake Fife, the Selah graduate headed for Columbia Basin College next season.
Fife drummed Kennewick pitching all night, to the tune of 5-for-6 with three doubles and five RBIs. Additionally, he closed out both games, striking out seven of the 12 batters he faced.
"We go to what we have to go to," said Pepsi Pak manager Mike Archer. "We knew we had to get at least one of these games."
Though the scores of both games were close, it felt like the Bandits were playing catch-up all night. Kennewick took a 3-1 lead in the second inning of the opener thanks to a solo home run by Tyler Roberts, and a triple by Brennan Borlaug at the bottom of the lineup and a double from Andrew Mendenhall at the top.
But Yakima Valley came back with three-run frames in the third and fourth innings, with all the damage done with two out.
Worse yet, the Bandits were poised to strike back in their half of both innings and came up snake eyes.
Back-to-back singles to lead off the third were squelched when strong-armed Pak catcher Matt Snider picked off Trux French, who wandered a little too far off first base on a missed bunt. In the fourth, Borlaug's single would have again put runners at first and second with no outs, but Roberts ran through a stop sign and was run down between second and third.
Snider picked two more runners off in the second game, which was dominated by starting pitchers Jake Nelson for Kennewick and Lukas Hinton for Yakima Valley.
Nelson limited the same lineup that had 14 hits in the opener to six hits and three runs, only two of them earned. Wilcox, meanwhile, carried a one-hitter into the sixth before giving up Mendenhall's second single of the game and giving way to Fife.
"Jake threw well enough to win that game," Key said of his starter.
Yakima Valley 103 303 0 -- 10 14 2
Kennewick 030 014 0 -- 8 13 0
Thomas Wilcox, Jake Fife (6) and Matt Snider; Britt Hammer, James McKinnis (7) and Kyle Sani. Highlights--Dustin Daniels (YV) 3x3, 3R; Fife (YV) 4x4, 2 2B, 3R, 4 RBI, 1 2/3 IP-2H-4K; Wilcox (YV) 3x4, 2B, HR, 5 RBI; Trevor Dallman (YV) 2x4; Andrew Mendenhall (K) 3x4, 2 2B, RBI, R; Trux French (K) 3x3, RBI; Tyler Roberts (K) 2x3, HR, 2R; Brennen Borlaug (K) 2x4, 3B, 2R; KC Hooper (K) 1x3, 2R, 2 RBI.
Yakima Valley 102 000 0 -- 3 6 3
Kennewick 100 001 0 -- 2 2 1
Lukas Hinton, Fife (6) and Snider; Jake Nelson and Joe Driver. Highlights--Fife (YV) 1x2, 2B, RBI, SF, 1 1/3 IP-3K-0H; Kevin Allen (YV) 1x3, HR; Dallman (YV) 1x2, 2B; Mendenhall (K) 2x3, 2R; Nelson (K) 7IP-6H-2ER-5K-3BB.
Titans 13-5, Flames 7-0
Cody Shepherd allowed one hit over six innings and also hit a two-run homer in the first to lift Twin City to a sweep of its CWL doubleheader with Hanford at Waits Field.
In the opener, Brett Jacobs went 4-for-5 with a homer and five RBIs, and Shawn O'Brien hit a three-run homer to highlight the Titans' six-run third inning that erased a 6-0 deficit.
Twin City 006 430 0 -- 13 13 0
Hanford 420 000 1 -- 7 5 2
Kody Young, Matt Minnich (6) and Dillon Jackson; Mark Manderbach, Cody Wagner (5) and Chance Beebe. Highlights--Eric Yardley (TC) 3x4; Brett Jacobs (TC) 4x5, HR, 5 RBI; Shawn O'Brien (TC) 3-run HR in 3rd; Chris Cecil (TC) 2x5; Brad Elzie (H) solo HR in 1st; Brian Elzie (H) solo HR in 7th.
Twin City 200 210 0 -- 5 8 1
Hanford 000 000 0 -- 0 3 0
Cody Shepherd, Stinson Ott (7) and O'Brien; James Landon and Beebe. Highlights--Shepherd (TC) 6IP, 1H, 6K, 0BB, 2x2, 2-run HR in 1st; Josh Rapacz (TC) solo HR in 4th; Jacobs (TC) 2x4. Han 4-14 CWL.
Late Monday: Sun Devils 7-5, Beetles 1-4
Pasco 000 520 0 -- 7 7 2
Yakima 010 000 0 -- 1 3 1
Derik Briggs, Anthony Garza (6) and C.J. Garza; Gibby Briones, Travis Roybal (6) and Nick Lombardi.
Highlights--Daniels Weiss (P) 2x3, 2-run 3B in fourth, 3 RBIs; Lee Gomez (P) 2x4; C.Garza (P) 2B, RBI; Briggs 1 hit, 3K; A.Garza 4K.
Pasco 000 310 1 -- 5 6 1
Yakima 130 000 0 -- 4 11 3
Morgan Heiman, A.Garza (2), Trevor Brain (6) and Rick Davenport; Roybal, Tyler Schultz (5) and Trevor Oswalt.
Highlights--L.Gomez (P) 2x2, 2B; Seth Lockridge (P) RBI; A.Garza 6K. Pasco 17-18, 10-14 CWL.
CWL Legion AA
Knights 11-8, WV 1-7
West Valley 001 00 -- 1 5 2
Richland 422 21 -- 11 12 0
One out when 10-run rule invoked. Plath and Hillier; Hayden Hilty and Corey Morris. Highlights--H.Hilty (R) 5K, 0BB; Syd Hall (R) 3x4, 2B, RBI; Boone Myers (R) 2x3, 2B, RBI; Mason Hilty (R) 2x2, 2B, RBI.
West Valley 204 010 0 -- 7 7 0
Richland 010 340 x -- 8 9 1
Vetsch and Hillier; Mason Hilty, Connor Moore (3) and Jarrod Turner. Highlights--Myers (R) 2x2, 2B; Turner (R) 2x3, 2 2B, 4 RBI; Chris Richardson (R) 2x3, 2 RBI. Rich 21-10, 11-5 CWL.
