LONG BEACH — The Ilwaco junior varsity baseball team kick-started the season with back-to-back wins over Warrenton, including 5-0 shutout in the first game and a 13-12 comeback victory in the second in a season-opening doubleheader on Tuesday, March 18, in Long Beach.

In the first game, Ilwaco starting sophomore starting pitcher Haddox Hazen threw four scoreless innings with seven strikeouts, allowing only one hit. Ilwaco sophomore Keyton Fisher capped the shutout with three spotless innings in relief, while adding two hits and two runs at the plate in the 5-0 win.

“Haddox pitched well for his first outing of the season,” said Ilwaco assistant coach Chris Patana.

“He was locating the zone well and was able to keep Warrenton off of the bases. He looked sharp for his first outing. Keyton Fisher came in and finished the game and pitched well also.”

Ilwaco sophomore Cody Kaino finished with a team-high three hits, including one double and one RBI, in the first game. Ilwaco sophomore Brent Curry had a team high two-hits and three RBIs in the second game (a 13-12 Fishermen win).

“Cody Kaino has been seeing the ball really well since day one and just came out swinging the bat well in both games,” Patana said.

“Brent Curry found a hit in his last at bat of the first game and continued to find success in the second game. Hitting is contagious and the team fed off of those two well in the second game.”

Ilwaco outscored Warrenton 13-12 in a wild comeback victory in the second game of the doubleheader.

The Warriors raced to 6-1 second-inning lead fueled by a leaky Fishermen defense that committed three errors.

“Chase Cunningham pitched great for us in the second game, unfortunately our defense was not able to give him the support while he was on the bump,” Patana said.

“I think we had three innings worth of outs that were botched by errors, but they cleaned it up with Tyler Cutting and Colten Vandermeulen. Mark Ragan stepped in as the first varsity catcher we’ve had not named (Boston) Caron in three years. He caught two games really well overall.”

Coaches ‘pleased’ by performance

The first junior varsity non-league game of the season — a matchup comprised of freshmen and sophomores — coaches were encouraged by what they witnessed before the team officially starts league play, next time accompanied by juniors and seniors.

“We were overall pleased with the way our freshmen and sophomores played,” Patana said.

“There were a few that surprised us and really stepped up. We were able to get tuned up a bit before we start league play against Pe Ell, which is going to be a key doubleheader for our league this year. We have many of the underclassmen that will be playing a lot of varsity time this season — we have Corbin Johnson, Dylan Pelas and Robert Sanders who were not inserted into the lineup yesterday and will be factors for us for the rest of the season. We are excited about competing for another league title. We are young, however all of these boys have a lot of experience and innings in them which makes a lot of difference at this level. We have “good problems”, youth and numbers are a good thing, we have a lot of depth.

Up next: Ilwaco will travel to face Pe Ell/Willapa Valley on March 25.