Ilwaco’s Alex Hillard slides into home plate against North Beach on Friday, March 26.

ILWACO — One bad inning doomed the Ilwaco baseball team (1-1) in their season opener against the Wahkiakum Mules (1-1) on Thursday, March 25 in Long Beach.

Both teams traded runs through the first few frames before Ilwaco grabbed an 8-7 lead in the 6th inning, but that’s when it all began to unravel for the home team.

Wahkiakum was able to tally several runs in the inning after Ilwaco pitchers struggled to find the strike zone. After several walks, one beaned batter and three Ilwaco pitchers later, Wahkiakum emerged with a commanding lead, and walked away with a 22-11 victory.

ILWACO — The Ilwaco baseball team (1-1) erased the bad taste from their first game by taking out their frustration out on North Beach (0-2), blasting the Hyaks 27-3 on Friday, March 26 in Long Beach.

The Fishermen rebounded offensively and defensively from their season opener in strong fashion.

Ilwaco batters jumped all over the North Beach starting pitcher in the first inning and had the Hyak fielders chasing balls late into the evening.

The pitching issues that doomed Ilwaco in the first game didn’t manifest in the second as the Fishermen played a solid game from start to finish to improve to 1-1 overall and 1-0 in the 1B Pacific.

Ilwaco will next play at La Center on Thursday, April 1 at 5 p.m.