The Homer baseball team lost both games of a doubleheader to Wasilla on Saturday in Wasilla.
The Mariners dropped to 2-3 overall in 2015, and 0-2 in the Northern Lights Conference.
The first loss, a 9-1 defeat, saw Wylie Donich give up eight hits and six walks on the mound for Homer. On offense, J.J. Sonnen hit 2 for 3 with an RBI, while Owen Delehanty hit 1 for 3.
“The first two innings, we were putting the ball inside, but we couldn’t put anyone on base,” said Homer coach Rich Sonnen.
The second game, a 9-8 defeat, saw Homer rally back from a 9-4 deficit with four runs in the sixth inning, but the Mariners could not quite finish the job.
“(Wasilla) changed pitchers and we started coming back,” Sonnen said. “We couldn’t quite catch up to them.”
Homer fell behind 5-0 after the first inning before the late rally.
Owen Delehanty gave up eight hits, two strikeouts and seven walks in six innings on the mound, and Homer teammate Sheldon Hutt came in for one inning of hitless relief, giving up one walk.
“It was a good weekend, overall,” coach Sonnen said. “I knew it was gonna be tough and I knew it would expose some of our weaknesses. It definitely gave us things to work on next week in practice.”
Michael Swoboda hit 2 for 5 to lead Homer, while Delehanty, Greg Smith, Paul Trowbridge, Kyle Johnson and Evan Boyer each recorded one hit.
Friday, Homer split a doubleheader against Colony in Palmer, losing the first matchup 14-4 and winning the second one 14-3. Brandon Beachy pitched four innings for the Mariners with six hits and seven walks in the opener before handing it over to Hutt, who finished up with two innings of three-hit ball.
J.J. Sonnen provided the power for Homer by hitting 2 for 2 with two runs. Owen Delehanty went 1 for 3 and Kyle Johnson hit 1 for 1 with a walk and one run.
“Colony has some good hitters,” said coach Sonnen. “They hit everything we threw across the plate, but we had trouble finding the strike zone, too.”
Sonnen said his rotation gave up 10 walks, which he said is something to improve upon.
In Friday’s second game, a nonleague clash, Homer found the magic with Swoboda at the plate. Swoboda hit 2 for 3 with a walk and two runs.
Sonnen got the win on the mound with five innings of work, giving up two hits, four walks and getting three strikeouts.
“In the second game, we kind of flip-flopped,” coach Sonnen said. “Colony’s pitcher didn’t get his start that he needed, and we kept it going from there.”
The Mariners face Soldotna on Monday.
