Tigers Trample TOR, 10-0

PRESCOTT - The Waitsburg Prescott Tigers are off to their next playoff game in Walla Walla this weekend after handily beating Tekoa-Oakesdale Rosalia (TOR), 10-0, last Tuesday night.

"It was a good day," head coach Dustin Snedigar said after the game. "It was pretty well-rounded with Zach (Bartlow) throwing a lot of strikes, strong defense and the bats coming to life in the third inning."

WP faces Dayton in the next playoff game on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Borleske Stadium in Walla Walla.

Dayton beat Liberty Christian in Richland, 8-0, last Tuesday. The outcome of Saturday's game will decide which team will go to state in Mossyrock the following weekend.

WP came out with plenty of swagger Tuesday in Prescott and more than enough points to walk the talk. It was the third time the Tigers beat the Nighthawks this season. During the three years prior to 2012, TOR was 6-1 against WP.

"TOR owned us before this season," Snedigar said. "Beating a team three times is hard in any sport. The boys have worked this season. I have a lot of respect for these who play all these (three) sports (during the year)."

The Tigers quickly shook off an early catching error on first base in the first inning and kept TOR from scoring on hits in the first three innings. In the bottom of the third, the WP offense erupted, taking advantage of hard ground balls and several TOR errors. A low RBI double from David Herzog brought in Chris Manzano, followed by another hard grounder from Riley Stevens that brought in Dalton Estes. Brice Paxson pounded one out across midfield to bring home Herzog, and the Tigers were far from done in the third.

Kyle Dozier didn't get one off, but a home plate catcher's error gave him just enough time reach first base on a thirdstrike run that brought home Manzano.

To top it off, catcher Tucker Alleman connected for a longline hit that almost turned into a homer with the batter reaching third base after scoring Dozier and Paxson.

"We hit the ball when we needed to," Snedigar said.

Up 6-0, the Tigers quickly retired TOR to continue their scoring drive in the bottom of the fourth. Herzog, who was three-for-three, got another first-base hit, as did Bartlow behind him. With two bases loaded, Stevens drove one that split the outfielders and scored two.

Riley then stole second base and came in on another TOR error and WP out, bringing the score to 9-0 before TOR got the better of the productive WP batters and basethieving runners.

In the top of the fifth, relief pitcher Manzano didn't give the Nighthawks an inch, striking out three hitters in three pitches, a rare achievement, Snedigar said.

By the bottom of fifth, the heat had dissipated, but the Tigers were barely cooling down.

Herzog walked on a full count and Bartlow's single kept them both safe.

Once all the bases were loaded, Paxson's hard ground ball brought in Herzog and triggered the fifth-inning mercy rule, which awards the win to the team that's up by 10 points by the fifth inning.

"I knew we were going to win," said Manzano. "We just had to shut them down. The pitching was on point and everyone was fielding it."

Outing first-base runners is something the team had been practicing lately because its players struggled on defense early on in the season, Snedigar said.

The team now has a league record of, 10-4, and, 13-7, overall, placing third in the league. But winning will become progressively tougher, the head coach said.

"It's a one-game season," he said. "There could be no tomorrow."

WP vs TOR May 8

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David Herzog 3/3, Riley Stevens 3/4, Zach Bartlow 2/4. Hits: 13.