Baseball: Loggers top Astoria Ford in tourney opener

Jul. 23—The end-of-summer district tournament for local Junior Baseball teams got underway Thursday morning at Tapiola Park.

The eight-team wood bat tournament for regional 17-and-under teams concludes Saturday night, also at Tapiola Park.

Knappa opened the action Thursday with an 11-3 win over Astoria Ford, as four Logger pitchers limited the Fishermen to five hits in a six-inning game, stopped by the two-hour time limit.

Starter Logan Morrill, along with Jaxon Dietrichs, Nick Rusinovich and Drew Miller combined to strike out eight batters, with four walks. Two Astoria pitchers allowed nine hits, with eight walks and four hit batters.

But all Knappa needed offensively was Rusinovich, who had two doubles and drove in six runs, highlighted by a bases-loaded double down the left field line in the second inning, giving the Loggers a 7-1 lead.

Rusinovich added a two-run double in the fifth. Bryce Yeager had two hits for the Fishermen.

"Every time (Rusinovich) came up, we had guys in scoring position," said Knappa coach Jeff Miller. "The neat part was that we consistently put the ball in play, and our pitchers — for the most part — threw strikes."

In the second game, Seaside defeated Tillamook, 13-3.

Ilwaco 8, Warriors 7

Ilwaco built an 8-1 lead, then held on for an 8-7 win over Warrenton in Thursday's third game, as the Fishermen scored eight runs in the top of the second inning, including seven runs with two outs.

Fishermen pitcher Kaeden Lyster opened the game with four straight walks, but the Warriors managed only one run in the first inning, Josh Earls scoring on a wild pitch.

Lyster settled in and pitched a solid four innings, allowing three hits with three strikeouts, and only one additional walk.

Meanwhile, the Fishermen scored all eight of their runs in the top of the second inning, on five hits, three hit batters and two walks.

Ilwaco's Jacob Rogers drove in the first two runs on a double, Derrick Cutting added an RBI single, and following a hit by Kaemon Sawa, Kyle Morris had a two-run double for a 5-1 lead.

With the bases loaded, Alex Hillard's line drive double cleared the bases for an 8-1 advantage.

The Warriors scored one in the fourth, and rallied with five in the bottom of the sixth, on two hit batters, a single, a two-run error and a double from Dawson Little, bringing the Warriors to within one run.

But the two-hour time limit brought an end to the game, stopping the contest after six complete innings. Warrenton had the tying and winning runs in scoring position when the final out was recorded, a line drive by Ethan Caldwell caught by the Ilwaco left fielder.

Ryder Sturgell and Talon McGrorty had two hits apiece for the Warriors, who were scheduled to play Tillamook Friday, while Ilwaco was set to take on Seaside Friday night.