Cheney baseball drops games to Medical Lake, Freeman

The Cheney High baseball team hit a couple of rough spots last week after nonleague losses to

Medical Lake, 7-2, March 15 and Freeman, 9-5, March 18.

Medical Lake took the lead after scoring three runs in the third inning, then added four more in the fifth. The Cardinals' pitching and defense limited Cheney to only two hits - one each from Riley Jones and Cade VanWormer - and kept them off the scoreboard until the seventh inning when David Winters scored the first run for the Blackhawks. Austin Bosworth's ground out that brought in Ty Graham capped Cheney's scoring.

Head coach Mike Cagle said the game against Medical Lake reminded him of the state tournament game against Fife last May.

"We weren't able to really get our rhythm going," Cagle said. "For us, it was a good game in figuring out what we need to work on."

Chance Gleave (0-1) took the loss on the mound and shared pitching duties with Andrew Witt, Cameron Wiseman and Dylan Arthur.

Against Freeman, the Blackhawks took an early lead with one run in the first inning. Freeman took the lead with three runs in the third inning while Cheney answered that with four runs in the third inning. The Scotties took back the lead with four runs in the fifth inning and added two more in the sixth.

Offensive highlights include Jones' three hits, Gleave's two, Logan Pratt's squeeze bunt and Cameron Wiseman's 2-RBI single.

"We were late in hitting the ball," Cagle said. "Riley and Chance are hitting better and guys like Harrison King can drive the ball. It's just a matter of hitting the ball at the right time."

Graham, Wiseman (1-1), Dylan Arthur and Gleave shared pitching duties, with Wiseman taking the loss. Cagle noted it was Graham's first time pitching in a couple of years.

"It was nice to see him on the mound," Cagle said. "He's probably going to be our No. 1 in terms of a power pitcher. Wiseman also did well, he'll get many innings in for us this year."

Cagle said the team is refining their strategy during practice. He added that they may go with the short game - turning bunters into base runners - which he noted is more of his "style." The team is also working on being more aggressive on defense, raising their awareness during the game.

"We've got to be more competitive," Cagle said. "We've also got to be aggressive on offense and force the defense to make plays on us."

Cheney (2-2 overall) was scheduled to begin its first round of Great Northern League play at home against Pullman, March 23 - which had been rescheduled from March 22 due to weather conditions. They host Clarkston in a doubleheader March 26, then travel to West Valley to play the Eagles March 29.

Pullman began league play with an 11-1 win against defending GNL champions West Valley, March 19. On that same day, Clarkston defeated East Valley, 3-2.

"You can't put too much stock into the early games, but we've got to get on those teams early," Cagle said. "Clarkston is always a good team and I'm looking forward to this week and getting into the mix of these league games."

Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.