For the third straight game, the Oak Harbor High School baseball team went toe-to-toe with unbeaten and top-ranked Arlington Friday, April 26. And, for the third straight time, the Eagles managed to squeak by the Wildcats.
Arlington (16-0, 18-0) scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to defeat visiting Oak Harbor 2-1. The Eagles edged Oak Harbor 2-1 and 3-1 in the first two games of the series. Arlington came into the week by beating Wesco opponents by an average score of 9-1.
The Wildcats (7-9, 8-10) are tied for fourth place with Marysville-Pilchuck (7-9, 7-11) in the Wesco North standings. The two teams play each other in the final two regular season games, first in Oak Harbor at 4 p.m. Monday, April 29, and then in Marysville Tuesday.
M-P beat Oak Harbor 8-3 on March 15, so the Wildcats will need to win both games this week to earn the tie-breaker over the Tomahawks for playoff seeding.
Snohomish (8-8, 8-10) sits just above Oak Harbor and Marysville-Pilchuck and plays Stanwood (3-13, 4-14) twice this week.
Oak Harbor, Marysville-Pilchuck and Snohomish have all clinched playoff berths, but this week’s games will determine the seeding for three through five. The fourth- and fifth-seeded teams will need to win a play-in game Thursday, May 2, to advance to the eight-team, double-elimination portion of the district tournament.
Arlington 2, Oak Harbor 1
After Oak Harbor scored the game’s first run in the top of the sixth, the Eagles answered with two in their half of the inning.
Arlington used a single, walk, single and single to score its two runs. The Eagles had only two hits off Oak Harbor’s Jack Lovendale coming into the inning.
Oak Harbor scored its run in the sixth when Thomas Anderson walked, stole second, moved to third on an error and scored on Andrew Dixon’s base hit with two outs.
Oak Harbor went down in order in the top of the seventh.
Austin Boesch, Taylor Rummel and Joseph Dixon had Oak Harbor’s only other hits in the game.
The Wildcats left six men on base, five in scoring position and three at third base, but could not get the clutch hit.
