Red Lion gets offensive in rout of Cards
Saturday, July 26, 2008 1:37 PM PDT
By Ben Zimmerman
Printable version
E-mail this articleLower Columbia Red Lion manager Mike Polis didn’t like his team’s body language prior to its state qualifier regional playoff game against the Vancouver Cardinals at Shadle Park High School in Spokane on Friday.
“We didn’t look very motivated,” Polis said.
Five pitches into the game, Polis realized he was mistaken.
After Kyle McCrady’s leadoff single, Chris Armstead smashed the first of four Red Lion home runs, sending Lower Columbia on its way to a 26-14 blowout of the Cardinals.
McCrady and Nathan Enriquez added three-run homers, and Rusty Beam clubbed a two-run dinger as part of a 21-hit attack that pushed Red Lion within a victory of advancing to the Senior American Legion state tournament in Tacoma next weekend.
And it was not a case of the ballpark at Shadle Park being a bandbox.
“The ball was just carrying,” Polis said.
Red Lion can punch its state ticket with a win today against either Spokane or Wenatchee. If it loses, Red Lion (24-17-1) can still advance with a victory on Sunday.
After taking a 2-0 lead in the first, Red Lion never trailed. It tacked on seven runs in the second, two in the third, five in the fifth, four in the sixth, two in the seventh, one in the eighth and three in the ninth.
The offensive largesse allowed Polis to preserve almost his entire pitching staff and let long reliever Matt Minium “put us on his back,” he said.
Minium relieved starter Nick LaRoy in the second inning and pitched through the eighth for Red Lion to earn the win.
“Armstead, (Drew) Pettit, (Bryce) Garbe, (Kyel) Lambert didn’t throw,” said Polis, listing the arsenal of starters kept fresh by the offensive barrage and by Minium’s tidy mop-up work.
Enriquez added a two-run double and a two-run single to collect seven RBIs. He, McCrady, Beam and Spencer Downs each had three hits for the winners.
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