Tritons blank Big Bend, face Yakima Friday

LONGVIEW -- The Edmonds CC baseball team won its first game at the NWAC Championships on Thursday, blanking Big Bend 2-0. Yugo Hamakawa's one out single to center field in the third inning is all the Tritons would need. Elijah Santiago started the frame with a single, Guthrie Morrison followed with a knock, and Nic Sokol's sacrifice fly to deep left field moved Santiago up to third base. Edmonds added another run in the fifth inning when Sokol scored all the way from second base on Hamakawa's fly ball to right field. The Vikings' right fielder made the snag as he went over the wall in right field.

Freshman Will Smith

Will Smith hurled seven innings of shutout ball, fanning five and scattering five hits in seven innings of work. The tall righty escaped jams in the third and seventh to keep the Vikings scoreless. The punch out of pinch-hitter Jayke Chavez in the seventh thwarted Big Bend's best chance for runs, and ended Smith's day. He handed it off to Lucas Ford, who worked the eighth and ninth for his NWAC-leading 14th save.

The Tritons (39-7) stay in the winners' bracket and matchup with Yakima Valley, the No. 1 ranked team and East Region champion, on Friday. The Yaks (42-9) topped Lane 6-4 in their opener, and feature four of the NWAC's top hitters in Zach Inskeep (.410), John Sage (.399), Cole Mckenzie (.364), and Tyler Detloff (.350). Yakima led the conference in nearly every team offensive category. If Edmonds wins Friday it will play at 5:35 p.m. Saturday against the other unbeaten team. A loss would drop them into a losers' bracket tilt at 11:05 a.m. or 2:05 p.m.

If you were unable to catch today's game online, the archives of all tournament games can be found on the NWAC Sports Network YouTube channel.

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