LAUREL — The Meridian baseball team bounced back from a rough outing against Ferndale earlier this week by narrowly beating Lynden 4-3 Thursday evening, March 31.
Freshman pitcher Jonah Aase spun a gem for the Trojans, pitching a complete game to earn the win on the mound.
Meridian got on the board early when freshman Jaeger Fyfe scored Aase on an RBI single to put the Trojans up 1-0.
Lynden hitters struggled at the plate against Aase. The Lions’ only hit through four innings was a harmless single in the first inning by Case Zweegman.
On the flip side, Meridian put runners in scoring position in almost every inning, constantly making Lynden pitcher Lincoln VanDiest pitch himself out of trouble.
“We hit the ball hard today,” Meridian head coach Steve Slesk said. “We squared up a lot more balls than [Lynden] did. Our kids were hungry, just wanted it and had good at-bats.”
The Trojans plated another run in the bottom of the third inning thanks to an RBI double from Daniel Short who was caught on the basepath after he slipped rounding second, but Ian Forbes scored on the play, putting Meridian up 2-0.
Aase was cruising on the mound, the Trojans had the lead and the Lions were running out of time to catch up.
Lynden headed into the top of the fifth inning still down 2-0, but VanDiest got the Lions off on the right foot, drawing a four-pitch walk.
Kaedan Hermanutz came in to run for VanDiest and quickly found himself at second after a ball got away in the infield.
Isaac VanderVeen took a pitch off the helmet after a flyout from Lane Heeringa. Just like that, the Lions had two on with only one out.
Hermanutz scored on an error that allowed Carter Parcher to reach base and Duke Ohligschlager picked up two RBIs on an infield single for the Lions. Lynden led 3-2 at that point.
Despite having just given up three runs, Slesk left his young lefty on the mound.
“That wasn’t on him,” Slesk said of keeping Aase in the game. “We didn’t play catch, and that’s three unearned runs. I’m not going to pull a kid out when he’s still feeling good.”
The Trojans responded immediately in the bottom of the fifth. Bryce Johnson scored on an error to tie the game and an RBI single from Hunter Jones put Meridian back up 4-3 after five innings.
From there, Aase did what he had been doing all game. He shut down the Lions and the Trojans earned their fifth win of the season.
“I just had to throw strikes and let my defense make plays,” Aase said.
Aase gave up three runs, all unearned, struck out 10 batters and gave up four hits in his complete game effort.
“[Aase has] shown us he can do that this first month of the season,” Slesk said. “I was happy with the way he battled.”
The Trojans improve to 5-2 with the win and hand the Lions their first loss in the conference.
Both teams will be on the field again at 4 p.m. Monday, April 4. Meridian will host Mount Baker and Lynden hosts Nooksack Valley.