Photo by Erik Fraser – Evan Fraser delivers a pitch at Eureka on Wednesday.

Evan Fraser and the McKinleyville Panthers continued their unbeaten start to the Big 5 with a 3-1 win at Eureka in a pitchers’ duel on Wednesday.

Fraser, who was outstanding in McKinleyville’s conference opener against Fortuna on Saturday, continued to impress with another big performance against the Loggers.

The senior pitcher carried a perfect game into the sixth inning and gave up just two hits and no walks in six innings, while striking out three.

Also in the Big 5 on Wednesday, the Huskies bounced back from their two losses on Saturday to beat Del Norte 10-0 in six innings at Fortuna.

Pitching was the story of the day at Eureka, with Fraser and the Loggers’ Royce Olson serving up a classic pitchers’ duel.

“Their pitcher shut us down pretty good,” Eureka head coach Tommy Gale said off Fraser. “It was a good pitchers’ duel and I think their pitcher just happened to out-pitch our hitting. That’s just how it plays out sometimes.”

The loss was the first in conference play for the Loggers, who dropped to 2-1 in the Big 5 and 2-3 overall, while the Panthers improved to 3-0 and 7-3.

And once again, McKinleyville enjoyed some balanced offense, with six different players accounting for their six hits.

Jackson Kelly and Branson Dobrec each finished 1-for-2, while Kolbey Stolpe went 1-for-3 and Tenoch Tapia, Bryce Sargent and Hunter Carper each was 1-for-4.

Carper also had an RBI, as did Riles Egbert, who had a “huge sac fly,” according to his head coach Mike Dobrec.

But the big story of the day once again was the play of Fraser, who has started the Big 5 in style and has been very efficient with his pitching.

Fraser threw just 67 pitches in the six innings and got plenty of support from a McKinleyville defense that has been playing largely mistake-free baseball in the Big 5, including a big throw from Kelly from right field to get a Eureka runner at home plate to end the sixth.

“It was a great team win,” Mike Dobrec said. “The kids played defense behind Evan and Evan threw strikes. He had no walks, which was huge, and we made all the plays behind him.”

File photo – Tenoch Tapia

Freshman Joe Tanno also impressed in one inning of relief and showed no nerves in such a big matchup with the league lead on the line.

“It was good to see him to be able to come in in a pressure situation and do fine,” his head coach said.

Olson was also very effective for the Loggers and threw 6.1 strong innings before Jorge Lopez came in to close out the game.

“Royce thew well and he kept them in the game,” Mike Dobrec said. “He kept us off balance.”

Cooper Ohlsen, Michael Jewell and Alex Jimenez each had a base hit for the Loggers, who continue to impress despite the loss and remain well in contention for the Big 5 championship.

“It really came down to who made the less mistakes,” Gale added. “And we just happened to make a couple more mistakes on the defensive side.”

With so few games under their belts, it’s been difficult for the Loggers to build much rhythm this season.

“It’s been tough, but I’m so lucky to have the group I have and the guys have kept a positive attitude throughout,” Gale said. 

File photo – The Eureka Loggers

The two schools will conclude their three-game series with a doubleheader at McKinleyville High School on Saturday.

“We’re excited to get back after it on Saturday,” the Eureka coach added.

At Fortuna, meanwhile, a young Huskies team responded very well after a tough conference-opening doubleheader at McKinleyville over the weekend.

Nathan Cleek threw a complete-game shutout for the win and struck out two.

He got plenty of offensive help with the Fortuna bats racking up 11 base hits.

Fortuna’s Drew Franklin continues to impress whether he’s at the plate or on the mound and he finished 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles, while teammate Blayne Barrotte also was 2-for-3 and his brother Kallen Barrotte went 2-for-4.

Caden Lewis also impressed and finished 1-for-2, while Tyler Schlesiger and Hunter Reback each went 1-for-3 and Mariqus Ludd and Chadd Mussey both were 1-for-4.

“It was a great overall team win,” Fortuna head coach Max Betts said. “Pitching was great, fielding was great, hitting was great. It was a good bounce back game for us.”

File photo – The Huskies shut out Del Norte on Wednesday.

With the win, the Huskies improved to 1-2 in conference, while the Warriors dropped to 0-1.

Del Norte head coach Jeff Cook described his team’s performance as “ugly.”

“Fortuna played a solid game. Good defense and hitting,” Cook said. “We were opposite today. Probably our worst defense of the year.”

Aidan Rice, who has impressed recently, took the loss on the hill, but got “zero run support,” the coach said.

Ad it didn’t help matters that the Del Norte defense committed five or six errors.

The Warriors will try to get back to winning ways when they host Fortuna in the series-concluding doubleheader in Crescent City this weekend.

“We’ll bounce back Saturday,” Cook said.

Saturday’s game will be the Warriors first at home this season.