LAKE STEVENS — Sam Pyzer: Lake Stevens Viking. Baseball player. Wild man.
Pyzer (2-2 record) pitched a six inning no-hitter — in which he struck out eight, walked two and hit five batters — for Lake Stevens in a Wesco 4A victory over Cascade that ended with a walk-off double by Colton Richards, a sophomore playing in his first varsity game.
“Pyzer pitched a great game, although he was wild.” Lake Stevens head coach Rodger Anderson said. “(There) was a lot of excitement.”
Pyzer’s role with the squad has been mostly in long-relief, but lately he’s been getting the nod.
“Once we got into the three-game series (against Snohomish and Cascade) he started to be one of our starters,” Anderson said. “He went though a stretch where he only pitched one inning in three weeks. He’s pitched well in the past but he hasnt had much opportunities.”
Pyzer started to lose the handle a bit in the later innings. He started the top of the sixth with a walk and then plunking two batters in a row to load the bases.
“He was up to 90 pitches (in the sixth) and we were going to take him out,” Anderson said. “…we had a reliever ready to go (for) the seventh. Some guys were like ‘you cant take him out, he has a no hitter.’”
Pyzer got the third out via a strikeout on a 3-2 count.
Superstition be damned.
In the bottom of the same frame, with the bases loaded and a chance to end the game via the 10-run rule, Richards (3-4, 2 RBI) smacked a double to bring home the winning runs.
“Our guys were really excited for (Richards),” Anderson said. “For a sophomore to come up and have the guys jump all over him it was really fun.”
At Lake Stevens H.S.
Cascade0000000—001
Lake Stevens3310120—10140
Nik Soros, Kelly King (3), Matt Butler (5) and Austin Pinorini. Sam Pyzer and Andre Bustard. WP—Pyzer (2-2). LP—Soros. 2B—Chase Ridder (LS), Jacob Eason (LS). HR—Eason (LS). Records—Cascade x-x league, x-x overall. Lake Stevens 5-7, 10-8.
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