Cardinals make most out of limited offense, win NEA pair

The Medical Lake High School baseball team made the most of limited resources last week, winning a pair of Northeast A League games.

Getting just four hits, the Cardinals scored a 1-0 win over Riverside (1-10, 3-10) April 26, and nine hits paced their 5-1 win April 28 versus Deer Park. The victories allowed Medical Lake (10-3 NEA, 15-3 overall) to stay in second place with a May 3 contest at Deer Park (6-7, 10-7) wrapping up the regular season.

Medical Lake has won five of its last six games.

"Riverside is just a house of horrors for us," Cards' head coach Kerry Kelly said. "We were able to pull it out, we left many runners on base."

Medical Lake punched across its lone run in the top of the fifth inning with Cole Soliday scoring on a sacrifice fly from Philip Murray. Soliday singled to get on base.

Earlier in the inning, Tyler Edisen stroked a leadoff single, advanced to third but was thrown out at the plate.

"We're really happy to get that win and keep us where we need to be as far as holding on to second place," Kelly said. "Like I said before, there's no style points, a win's a win."

Versus Deer Park on Senior Day, the Cardinals jumped on Stags pitching for a 3-0 lead after two innings. With one out, Tristen Keith was hit by a pitch and later scored on a Cory Wagner single. Brayden Hale doubled, sending Wagner to third. He scored when Murray hit a sacrifice. A leadoff walk to Justin Parker led to Medical Lake's third run. Parker scored on a Soliday sacrifice.

The final Cardinal runs came in the sixth when Wagner reached on an error and scored on a Hale double. A Murray single scored Hale.

"Brayden Hale was hot at the plate," Kelly said. "As usual, consistent all year."

Cory Wagner pitched a gem, Kelly said as the senior scattered four hits and struck out 10. "He was just on fire."

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.