Hornets Baseball Edge Auburn Mountainview 8-7

Tyler Carlson's walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning broke a 7-7 tie giving Enumclaw (10-1,6-1 SPSL 3A) a 8-7 win over Auburn Mountainview (7-8, 5-5 SPSL 3A) on Tuesday night at Osborne Field in a key contest for both teams vying for the playoffs.

"We almost let one get away but we were very resilient in the nick of time," Enumclaw coach Eric Fiedler said. 

The win by Enumclaw puts the Hornets ahead of second place Bonney Lake by two in the loss column in the SPSL 3A  league standings with both teams playing a home and home series on Wednesday at Enumclaw, and Friday at Bonney Lake.

Enumclaw jumped out early in the bottom of the second inning manufacturing a run against the Lions. Cody Hughes led off with a walk. Kyle Baumgartner executed a sharp bunt just up the third base line, and then Marcus Madden followed with another well executed bunt that ended up scoring Hughes on a miscue by the Auburn Mountainview first baseman to give the Hornets a 1-0 lead.

The game would then settle in to a battle of the pitching aces Levi Goodin for Enumclaw and Steven Johnson for the Lions up until the bottom of the fifth inning. The Hornets put together a four run outburst  by a pair of homeruns by Trenton Disque and three run-homerun by Hughes over the right center field fence to stretch the Enumclaw lead to 7-0 after five innings.

Auburn Mountainview would not go away in the top of the sixth inning as they chipped away at Goodin.  The Lions' Nick Brooks' two-run single scoring Skylar White and Shawn Guinn cut the Enumclaw lead to 7-4 with just one out. Goodin was then replaced by closer Michael Lucarelli who gave up a couple more hits as Derek Stephen's RBI single would tie the game at 7-7. Lucarelli would get the Hornets out of the inning thanks to catching a suicide squeeze attempt  by Auburn Mountainview and a called third strike on Kakoa Nahaku.

After a slugfest Monday against Decatur that involved a combined 40 runs in a Enumclaw 23-17 victory over the Gators, Goodin knew it was critical for him to go deep into the game to save the bullpen for the rest of the week.

"We have a lot of games in a short period of time so it was important for me to have a lot of 1-2-3 innings tonight," Goodin said.

In the top of the seventh, Lucarelli settled in and shut down the Lions quickly without allowing a hit, giving the momentum back to Enumclaw going into the bottom of the seventh inning.

"Michael didn't have his best velocity but he settled down after the sixth inning to give us a chance to win in the bottom of the seventh," Fiedler said.

The Hornets' Kyle Thompson made arguably the play of the game in the bottom of the seventh inning when he beat out a pretty routine groundball for a basehit to lead off the inning; he then got to second on a stolen base and then with one out Carlson stepped in and took a fast pitch, smashing a line drive into right center field that drove in Thompson giving Enumclaw the victory in dramatic walk off fashion.

"I was just looking for a fastball first pitch," Carlson said. "I knew I had to drive it toward right field or second base side as I knew Kyle had the wheels to score from second base."

Fiedler praised both Thompson and Carlson's effort and execution in scoring the winning run. 

"Kyle's hustle up the baseline set things up for us," Fiedler said. On Carlson's at bat: "Tyler's a slugger with tremendous power, he took a great approach with the fastball he got."

The Hornets are in the middle of a six-games-in-six-days stretch that could very well be the difference in deciding the league champion. Thus, Fiedler, and the Hornet players know that every win and every day is important.

"This is two big wins for us so far with beating Decatur on Monday, and this one tonight," Fiedler said. "We are trying to go 4-2 or better this week to try and secure the top spot in league."

Carlson said, "It's a huge statement to come out of a tight game with a win after they got us at their place."

Thompson said, "We just have to take everything one day at a time, we can't look past anyone."

Goodin said, "We had something to prove tonight, we needed to win."

Enumclaw next plays Bonney Lake  tonight at Osborne Field in Enumclaw. Start time is 7 p.m.

Box Score

Auburn Mountainview 000 007 0-- 7-8-1

Enumclaw                       010  240 1-- 8-7-2

WP: Lucarelli

LP: Hunter

HR:  Enumclaw:  Trenton Disque ,  Cody Hughes