EHS Baseball: Hornets Shut Down Peninsula 9-2

Levi Goodin set the tone  for Enumclaw on the mound with  five strong innings of starting pitching. Eric Koenig hit an opposite field home run in the bottom of the second inning to pace the Hornets (8-1, 4-1 SPSL 3A ) to a 9-2 victory over Peninsula (5-6, 3-5 SPSL 3A) on Tuesday night at Osborne Field in Enumclaw.

With the win, Enumclaw has a half game lead on second place Bonney Lake in the South Puget Sound League 3A Baseball standings.

"Levi is not a pitcher who will overpower you but he just makes pitches," Enumclaw coach Eric Fiedler said. "He's been that way for two years for us."

Goodin said, "I didn't have my best stuff tonight, but I had a great defense behind me that made plays."

The Hornets got on the board early in the bottom of the first inning as Michael Lucarelli hit a one-out double into the left center field gap and cleanup hitter Cody Hughes came up with a two-out single driving Lucarelli home to put Enumclaw ahead 1-0.

Koenig ignited the Hornet offense in the bottom of the second inning with a leadoff homerun over the right-field fence to put Enumclaw ahead 2-0.

"The pitcher just left it over the plate and I just went with the pitch," Koenig said.

Catcher D.J. Hitch then followed two batters with a triple knocking in Goodin and putting the Hornets up 3-0. Hitch also made two significant  defensive plays that slowed down potential Peninsula big innings with a block of homeplate in the fourth inning that ended a rally by the Seahawks.

"D.J. wasn't even going to be in the lineup tonight," Fiedler said. "Tyler (Carlson) got sick before the game so Trenton (Disque) went out to centerfield , and D.J. stepped up and caught for us."

Fiedler lauded both his seniors for stepping up and playing in different roles.

"It was great senior maturity by those guys," Fiedler said.

Disque, when told about the change, was ready to go quickly for the Hornets. "I just tried to get to use to my outfield glove after I warmed up with my catcher's mitt," Disque said. "We have a lot of depth on this team so no one misses a beat when things change."

Enumclaw would survive a rally by Peninsula to cut the score to 6-2 in the top of the fourth. Peninsula coach Marco Malich praised his young team's ability to come on the road and battle the highly ranked Hornets tough.

"If we could have got a break here or there maybe the game would have different," Malich said. "We hit a lot balls right at them, but they are a good senior laden team I would expect them (Enumclaw ) to go to state."

The Hornets continued to pull away the rest of the game scoring a couple runs in the bottom of the sixth to cap the scoring as Disque laid down a bunt for a basehit and senior leadoff batter Kyle Thompson tripled him home one batter as part of a two-run inning, putting the game in hand for Enumclaw 9-2.

With a rematch on tap for Wednesday, both Fiedler and Disque know that the challenge ahead will not be easy.

"They will be ready to play us," Fiedler said. "They are a sophomore laden team that thinks they can beat us but I know our guys will be ready for their lefty they'll throw against us and we won't take them lightly."

Disque said, "We just have to stay focused."

Enumclaw will go with Cody Hughes on the mound in his start for the Hornets this season tomorrow against Peninsula in the rematch.

Box Score

Peninsula  000 200 0-- 2-6-1

Enumclaw 150 102 x-- 9-9-1

WP- Goodin

LP- Mattingly

HR: Enumclaw: Eric Koenig

On Deck for Enumclaw: Tomorrow: at Peninsula 4 p.m.; Friday: vs Auburn Mountainview 7 p.m.