A night after topping their opponent in a pitchers’ duel, the Peninsula Oilers topped the Oceanside (San Diego) Waves once again — this time using superb batting — in an 11-5 game at Coral Seymour Memorial Park on Thursday evening.
The two teams combined for 23 hits and 16 runs in the second matchup of a four-game exhibition series with the Waves. The two squads will face each other again tonight at 7 p.m.
“I think mentally, the guys just kinda took the shackles off themselves,” said Oilers coach Kyle Richardson. “They were pressing at-bat and trying too hard yesterday, and today they kind of relaxed a little bit and trusted their abilities, and put together good ABs.”
Jake Sandlin provided the biggest hitting night for the Oilers (7-1-2), going 3 for 3 with two runs and getting on base all five times he stepped up to the plate, including two walks. Mylz Jones and Jordan Sanford each also provided two hits, and Sanford and Drake Zarate each had two RBIs.
Six pitchers were also used Thursday. Dan Kolodin (out of UC San Diego) got the win on the mound, going three innings with five hits, four runs (three earned) and two walks. Tyler Painton (two innings), Cody Richey (one), Mitchel Daugherty (one), Chad Reiser (one) and Tyler Gibson (one) each contributed on the hill.
“Part of it was to get guys experience, but also we got two brand-new catchers with Zarate and (Nick) Thurman,” Richarson said. “I want to let them see each pitcher as much as I can this early, so that way they know what to expect when we go into league play.
“I had Drake warming up our pitchers in the pen, so that Thurman could catch late.”
After dropping into a 4-0 hole in the second inning after two singles and a double brought in runs, the Oilers began turning things around, starting in the bottom of the third.
Ethan McGill advanced to first base on an infielder’s error, scoring Carter Yagi. Then, a Jeff Paschke single brought Jones in to score. The real kicker, though, came when Zarate blasted a bases-clearing single (with help on a center fielder error) that brought McGill, Paschke and Jake Sandlin home and gave the Oilers a 5-4 lead.
The Oilers added a run in the fourth inning, but Oceanside responded with a run in the top of the fifth.
The Oilers came right back with a big fifth inning. Alex Rubanowitz’s single brought AJ Hernandez home to score, then Jones hit a ground-out that scored Rubanowitz and Sandlin.
As those two were running home, Yagi decided to make a break for second base, but was caught between first and second in a rundown. Miraculously, Yagi got safely to first base.
“It was just hard baseball, they’re playing hard,” Richardson said. “That’s what I like to see. A lot of times when people think summer baseball, they think it’s time to work and to get better, they relax and do their thing. But today our guys played hard, like they were in the College World Series.”
From there, Yagi stole second, then attempted to get to third on a Sanford single, but an error by the shortstop allowed Yagi to score, putting the Oilers up 10-5.
Oilers 11, Waves 5
Waves AB R H BI Oilers AB R H BI
Cnhm rf 4 1 0 0 Jnes 3b 5 1 2 2
Nlls ss 4 0 1 0 Snfrd lf 4 0 2 1
Afnr cf 3 0 1 0 McGl 1b 5 1 1 0
Snky c 4 1 2 0 Pske dh 5 1 1 1
Brrza lf 3 1 1 0 Hrdz 2b 4 2 1 0
Clrk 1b 4 1 1 0 Sdln cf 3 2 3 0
Fshr 3b 4 1 1 2 Zrte c 2 0 1 2
Rmck dh 4 0 1 1 Thrmn c 3 0 1 1
Ktka 2b 3 0 1 0 Rbnwz 3b 4 1 1 1
—- — — — — Yagi cf 2 3 1 0
—- — — — — Rose rf 0 0 0 0
Totals 33 5 9 3 Totals 37 11 14 8
Waves 040 010 000 —5
Oilers 005 141 000 —11
2B — Fisher, Sanford, Yagi. SH — Sanford. SB — Jones, Yagi. CS — Jones. E — Barraza, Zarate, Rubanowitz. LOB — Waves 3, Oilers 8. DP — Oilers 3, Waves 2.
IP H R ER BB SO
Waves
Thomas, L 4 9 6 3 0 3
Story-Baker 2 4 5 3 3 1
Sachrison 2 1 0 0 1 1
Oilers
Kolodin, W 3 5 4 3 2 1
Painton 2 2 1 1 0 1
Richey 1 1 0 0 0 2
Daugherty 1 0 0 0 0 2
Rieser 1 1 0 0 0 1
Gibson 1 0 0 0 0 2
PB — Zarate. HBP — by Thomas (Yagi).
Photo by Kelly Sullivan/ Peninsula Clarion AJ Hernandez takes a swing, Thursday, June 19, at Oilers Park in Kenai.
