LAKE STEVENS — It’s been a long time since Marysville Pilchuck allowed 10 or more runs in a game.
It’s been even longer since a team outscored them by 10 or more runs.
Lake Stevens broke both streaks Friday, with the Vikings’ bats coming alive in a 12-0, five-inning victory over the Tomahawks in a non-conference game at Lake Stevens High School.
It’s the first time Marysville Pilchuck gave up 10 or more runs since a 14-7 loss to the Vikings on April 17, 2012. No one was quite sure when the last time the Tomahawks were victims of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association mercy rule, which ends a game after five innings if a team trails by 10 runs or more.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve been 10-runned,” said Marysville Pilchuck head coach Kurt Koshelnik. “I don’t think one kid in this program on this field has ever been 10-runned at Marysville. Hats off to Lake Stevens. They put it on us.”
Koshelnik and the Tomahawks, who have put together a string of several successful seasons, purposefully scheduled a tough non-conference schedule featuring the Vikings. In years past, Marysville Pilchuck-Lake Stevens games have gone down to the wire, with last year’s contest, a 2-1 victory by the Vikings, needing an extra inning to decide.
“It seems like every time we play them — you go back to last year or the year before — it’s like a playoff atmosphere,” Lake Stevens coach Rodger Anderson said. “It’s always close. Last year was a one-run game. It’s been like that every year. They played (Woodinville on Thursday night) and I think used quite a bit of their pitching so I think we caught them at a good time.”
Lake Stevens got on the scoreboard early with five runs in the first inning, capped by a two-run single by junior J.T. Troia. The Vikings added four runs in the second and three in the bottom of the fourth to finish with 12 runs on nine hits.
Troia, making his first varsity start, led the way for Lake Stevens, going 3-for-3 with four RBI.
In his first appearance of the season, Troia had a pinch-hit RBI double to give Lake Stevens the lead in an 11-2 win over Edmonds-Woodway on Wednesday, making the junior outfielder 4-for-4 on the young season.
“That’s his first start ever,” Anderson said. “He’s one of those guys I see, every single morning since September, working out. He kind of organized all of our younger guys. To see it pay off for him now is amazing. That’s what coaching is all about.”
Catcher Andrew Bustard went 2-for-2 with three RBI and Tyler Billings was 1-for-1 with two RBI and a run scored for Lake Stevens (3-0 overall).
“The hard work that these guys put in, that’s what we talked about afterwards. They spent a lot of time in the offseason and now it’s paying off,” Anderson said. “It’s good to see. And it’s everybody. … Now we just need to keep it rolling and see what happens. I think they’re comfortable and relaxed, which helps a lot.”
Marysville Pilchuck (1-1), which had four hits in the game, gets a little break before facing Cascade on Tuesday. That ushers in a string of opponents that all made deep playoff runs last season, including Jackson and Snohomish.
“If you’re going to schedule good teams at the beginning of the year, then you’ve got to learn from it — win, lose or draw,” Koshelnik said. “Unfortunately, we were on the bad side of that (Friday). We’re going to talk about some things. But we have to flush it also. We have to learn but then we’ll flush it. It’s a loss but it’s not going to define our season.
“We can’t cry about it,” Koshelnik continued. “We’ve got Cascade, Jackson and Snohomish coming up — three more really tough non-conference games.”
At Lake Stevens H.S.
M. Pilchuck 000 00 — 0 4 1
Lake Stevens 540 3x — 12 9 1
Alex Aumick, Ben White (2) and Dylen Boomer. Skyler Swords, Max Gluck (3), Sam Pyzer (5) and Andrew Bustard. WP—Swords. LP—Aumick. 2B—Justin Brown (LS), Tyler Billings (LS). Records—Marysville Pilchuck 1-1 overall. Lake Stevens 3-0.
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