The River Ridge baseball team kept pace with the red-hot Peninsula for four innings before the undefeated Seahawks scored 10 combined runs in the fifth and sixth innings in a 13-5 verdict Thursday in Gig Harbor.
The Fulton brothers, first Jalon then Jax, led off the third with singles before Aaron Leu drove in the first run on a sacrifice fly. Peninsula also opened the third with a pair of hits, and a defensive mishap by River Ridge on a ground ball turned into the game-tying run. Two wild pitches by the Hawks brought runners home for the Seahawks in a three-run third.
Peninsula’s Jett Ortega ripped a bases-clearing double in the fifth inning to give the Seahawks a 7-1 lead, and Pete Browand added a two-run single to make it 9-1.
The Hawks chipped away in the sixth. Bono Larkin doubled to score two runs, aided by an error by Peninsula, and he scored on a wild pitch. However, Peninsula added four more runs in the sixth to put the game away.
Jalon Fulton went 2 for 2 at the plate, scoring two runs and walking twice. Larkin and D’Vaughntae Sellman each contributed a run batted in.
“They came out and swung the bats well,” River Ridge head coach Ben Rood said of Peninsula. “I thought we competed well, especially the first four innings. They’re a good ball club. It’s time to bounce back because we have two big games with Capital next week.”
Before that series with Capital to kick off next week, the Hawks (5-4, 3-4 Puget Sound League) will head to Sequim for a non-league bout Friday.
