Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Action from Wednesday’s game in Eureka.
By Ray Hamill — A change in the lineup paid big dividends for the Eureka Loggers on Wednesday.
After seeing his team drop two of three games against McKinleyville last week, head coach Tommy Gale decided to switch things up in an effort to get his offense going.
Gale moved Cole Zellar to the No. 3 spot in the lineup and the junior repaid his coach’s faith in him by going 3-for-3 and leading the Loggers to a key 2-1 win over Arcata at the Redwood Acres field.
“I thought Cole Zellar was the hero today,” said Gale, whose team improved to 4-2 in conference.. “I moved him to the No. 3 spot and he really shined. It was time to mix up the lineup a little bit and he really shined.”
Zellar was the difference in another tight game between these two Big 5 rivals, who were concluding a three-game series that began two weeks ago.
With Wednesday’s victory, the Eureka boys secured the series sweep and kept pressure on Big 5 leaders McKinleyville (4-1 in conference), although there was little to separate the teams once again.
The loss was the eighth in 10 games for the Tigers, who are now 0-3 in the Big 5 and 5-8-2 overall, with four of their losses coming by the narrowest of margins.
“It was an evenly-matched game,” Arcata head coach Troy Ghisetti said. “They just took advantage of our miscues and we did not step up when we had the opportunity, and that’s the difference in a one-run game.
“We’re just snake-bitten right now.”
It was a well-pitched game, with Arcata’s Ben Lukens matching the Eureka trio of Sebastian Standish, Cooper Ohlsen and Ty Crawford pitch for pitch all afternoon.
“All four pitchers pitched well,” Ghisetti said. “Lukens was the hard-luck loser and I thought he pitched really well.”
In addition to Zellar, it was the Eureka pitching that helped secure the win, as they combined to allow just five hits.
“It was the three pitchers that kept us in the game once again,” Gale said. “Offensively, I thought we started to make some progress. We’ve got a few guys that are starting to swing the bat. But that being said, I thought we made a lot of mistakes on the bases.”
The Loggers certainly had opportunities to put some distance between themselves and the Tigers, but they continually stranded runners on base all afternoon.
That made for an interesting finish, with the Tigers getting a pair of runners on base with two outs in the top of the seventh, before Crawford ended the game with a strikeout.
Standish gave the Loggers a one-run lead with two outs in the bottom of the second inning when he scored from second on an infield error.
The Tigers responded quickly and would tie the game in the top of the third, when Eli Greenway scored on an error after being walked to lead off the inning.
The Loggers re-took the lead in the bottom half of the inning on a Royce Olson base hit, which scored Zellar, who had reached base on a stand-up triple to right center field.
And that was all the offense they would need as neither team was able to score the rest of the game.
Crawford and Garrett Levitt each also had a base hit for Eureka, which improved to 4-4 overall, while Lukens, Anthony Ebert, Finn Warner, Alex Greenway and Jonah O’Brien each had a hit for the Tigers.
Lukens pitched all seven innings and allowed just one earned run while walking two and striking out seven.
Standish threw the opening three linings for the Loggers and left the game with his team leading after giving up just two hits and one unearned run.
Ohlsen also threw three innings and gave up just two hits, before Crawford closed out the game and gave up one hit in a scoreless seventh.
The Loggers now have a two-week break before beginning a three-game series against Del Norte in Crescent City on April 24.
The Tigers will be back in action in a three-game series against Fortuna next week, with game one at Arcata on Wednesday.
