SEDRO-WOOLLEY — Ferndale baseball got off to the start it was hoping for Wednesday afternoon against Sedro-Woolley. The Golden Eagles picked up three hits in their first three at-bats and scored a run, but that’s the only run they would score all game in a 2-1 loss to the Cubs.
Three consecutive singles to open the game by juniors Jordan Mason, Jake Mason and Andrew James put Ferndale up 1-0 in the top of the first inning.
Sedro-Woolley tied things up in the bottom of the third inning, but Ferndale junior Dylan Strom limited the damage to just the single run, ending the inning with a strikeout.
Strom’s day on the mound was done there as sophomore Camden Raymond took his place from the fourth inning on.
Raymond struck out the side in his first inning of work. More batters went down than those that reached base on both sides with neither pitcher willing to give up the go-ahead run.
Raymond’s only blemish came in the final inning after allowing a leadoff double. Ferndale intentionally walked the next two batters to load the bases, creating force outs across the diamond, but Raymond hit the next batter, allowing the winning run to score.
It wasn’t a dramatic walk-off, but the result was the same.
Ferndale head coach Donny Hennigs took the blame for loading the bases and said Raymond bailed the team out with four strong innings.
“We intentionally walked two guys there and put some pressure on a younger pitcher who hasn’t seen many innings,” Hennigs said. “Whenever your pitching staff only gives up two, we’re expecting our offense to do enough to win.”
Junior Jake Mason said the team wasn’t able to adjust to off-speed pitches.
“That’s been the one thing we’ve really struggled with,” Mason said. “Not being able to hit the off-speed pitch and not stringing at-bats together really hurt us. Guys going down looking and striking out doesn’t help us.”
The loss snapped Ferndale’s five-game win streak as the Golden Eagles dropped to 6-2 overall and 5-1 in the Northwest Conference.
Ferndale will have the next few days off for spring break, but Hennigs said it’s a dead sprint to the finish starting next week.
“It would’ve been nice to finish with a win here and finish the week undefeated in league play, but we’ll get back to it,” Hennigs said. “It’s going to be over before we know it, so, hopefully, we come back rejuvenated and ready to go on Tuesday at Oak Harbor.”
