Baseball: Byrne pitches well but Wildcats lose

After Oak Harbor was rocked by Marysville-Pilchuck Tuesday, the Wildcat baseball team put up a stronger fight but fell 5-1 Wednesday on the Tomahawks' field.

The Tomahawks (4-0, 6-0) are the defending Wesco North champions and are currently ranked seventh in the 4A state baseball poll. Oak Harbor dropped to 0-4 in league play and 3-5 overall. Oak Harbor entertains Everett Friday, April 2, at 4 p.m.

After the Wildcat pitchers took a pounding Tuesday, junior Ryan Byrne quieted the Tommie bats Wednesday.

Byrne retired the first nine hitters and took a no-hitter into the fifth.

Oak Harbor threatened in the first when it loaded the bases, but a two-out rocket hit by Kian Mebane to the M-P left fielder ended the threat. Over the course of the game, Oak Harbor loaded the bases three times with less than two outs and failed to score but its one run.

The Wildcats picked up their run in the third. Jay Stout and Yale Rosen singled and Brad Farnum was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out; Mebane followed with a grounder to short that scored Stout.

Stout finished 2-for-4 and Rosen 2-for-3. Nate Young got Oak Harbor's only other hit. That offense wasn't enough to back up Byrne's strong effort.

M-P finally broke through in the fifth. A lead-off single ended the no-hitter. It appeared Oak Harbor might get out of the inning when the runner was still at second with two outs. However, two singles and a walk scored one run and loaded the bases. An error followed when a pop up was dropped in shallow center and Marysville eventually scored three more (unearned) runs.

Coach Tyson VanDam said, "We played much better; our defense was sound except for the one error."

Contact Whidbey News Times Sports editor Jim Waller at jwaller@whidbeynewsgroup.com or 360-675-6611 ext. 5060.

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