Baseball: Tired Redmond Falls to Shorewood

The Redmond bench roared with approval as Colin McBride's massive game-tying homerun cleared the center-field fence in the second inning of the Mustangs matchup with Shorewood.

Unfortunately for Redmond, that was the last offensive highlight of the game. Henry McAree allowed just two base runners in three innings of work, and Christian Heideger's go-ahead RBI single in the second inning held up as Shorewood beat Redmond 7-3 on Saturday afternoon at Shorewood High School in Shoreline.

Redmond entered the contest averaging more than 8 runs per game and looked to be holding form after McBride's homerun off Thunderbirds starting pitcher Kevin Moriarty tied the game at 3 in the top of the second.

"That was his first homerun of the year," Redmond head coach Dan Pudwill said of McBride's blast. "He's been working on his swing, trying to get his hips involved, trying to generate a little more power and it paid off for him."

But McAree found control of his off-speed pitches early and spent the rest of the afternoon frustrating the Mustang hitters, racking up six strikeouts.

"That guy was dirty," Pudwill said of McAree. "He kept us off-balance. We tried to cheat up in the box and take it away from him, but he was too good."

Heideger singled home Paul Stotts in the second inning to put Shorewood up 4-3 and Duncan Hendrickson followed with a two-run double. Shorewood's offense slowed down the rest of the day, but Blake Snell and Connor Mckeever combined with McAree to make sure the runs held up. The Thunderbirds scored their final run on a fielder's choice in the fifth inning.

"Our at-bats were very good," Shorewood head coach Wyatt Tonkin said. "Even when we were out, we worked the count, to make it full, we had some great at-bats."

Redmond threatened in the top of the fifth inning, putting runners at first and second with one out. But Thomas Crosely was thrown out trying to steal third and Redmond's top hitter, Zach Abbruzza, struck out on a breaking ball to end the inning.

Snell and Mckeever each pitched an inning of perfect relief to finish the game.

"I thought we performed really well," Tonkin said. "Especially on the mound. All four guys just really threw the heck out of the ball."

Shorewood's win came in a non-league matchup, but had more meaning due to the resumes of the two teams. Shorewood is ranked number two in the state in 3A by the Seattle Times, while Redmond is second in 4A.

The Mustangs looked drained after playing Woodinville late on Friday night and were without their usual top pitching arms, as well as slugger Dylan Davis, who was out with the flu.

"We played a somewhat emotional game late last night and we were flat," Redmond head coach Dan Pudwill said. "I think the effort was there ... it was more of an energy deal."

The loss snapped a 10-game winning streak for Redmond. The Mustangs play next on Tuesday against Inglemoor.