Friday Harbor Wolverines crush Concrete Lions, 11-0 | Baseball

The Wolverines took a giant step toward a fifth-straight league title and avenged their only loss of the season by crushing Concrete 11-0 Tuesday on the Lions' home field.

Richie Ochoa was a one-man wrecking crew as Friday Harbor squashed the best shot the Lions had to leap ahead in the title chase. The league rivals took the field Tuesday tied at the top of the standings after splitting a doubleheader at Hartman Field 10 days earlier.

But the Lions proved no match for Ochoa at the plate. The senior southpaw struck out 13 batters without giving up a walk, and allowed just one base hit, in a five-inning game cut short by the 10-run mercy rule.

On the offensive end, Ochoa was equally lethal. He belted a two-run homer in the first inning to put the Wolverines out in front for good and tallied a total of four RBIs in the game.

Shortstop Jordan Nash joined in the fireworks by driving in three runs with a double and a single in four trips to the plate. Eddie Nash drove in a pair of runs with a clutch two-out single and Tanner Buck was 2-of-4 with two singles.

Head Coach Rich Warin said the Wolverines were intent on easing the sting of that earlier loss to the Lions. With the win, they improved to 10-1 in Northwest 1A/2B League competition and 12-1 overall.

"That was a real wake-up call," Warin said. "As bad as we played that last game, they didn't need any extra incentive from me."

Next: The Wolverines host Nooksack Valley Thursday in a pivotal 1A regional match up with post-season impact; game time is 4:30 p.m. at Hartman Field. They host Darrington Saturday in a league doubleheader.

Contact Journal of the San Juans Editor Scott Rasmussen at srasmussen@sanjuanjournal.com or 1-360-378-5696.

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