TOLEDO — Through three innings against Hoquiam on Wednesday, Toledo looked like it was on its way to another run-rule victory.
The Riverhawks had built a seven-run lead, and the Grizzlies had just one hit entering the fourth.
Hoquiam rallied back to get within one entering the bottom of the fifth, but Toledo was able to maintain the lead and add on a couple of insurance runs to hold on for a 9-6 non-league victory.
“A lot of chaos there,” Toledo coach Mack Gaul said.
A Hoquiam error led to Toledo’s first run of the game in the bottom of the first, and Nico Acosta made it 2-0 with an RBI single in the next at-bat.
After a scoreless second, Eli Weeks drilled an RBI single to kickstart a five-run third inning, one that also included a two-run single from Austin Reed.
“We were seeing pitches,” Gaul said. “We were squaring it up and putting the ball in play.”
Aidan Deskins threw the first three innings of the game, and he allowed just one hit while striking out six Grizzlies on just 41 pitches.
“If it’s midseason, we let him go there,” Gaul said. “He came out, and he gave me three strong innings.”
Hoquiam immediately got back into the game in the fourth, scoring four runs with two outs in the frame. After a leadoff single and the two outs, each of the next four batters reached via either a walk or hit by pitch, and an RBI single preceded another bases-loaded walk that made it 7-4.
In the fifth, a passed ball led to another Hoquiam run, and an error in the field put the Grizzlies within one.
By the end of the game, Hoquiam had tallied just three hits, but they also drew eight walks, were hit by two pitches, and were the beneficiary of that Toledo error.
“That’s not acceptable for Toledo baseball,” Gaul said. “We're better pitchers than that. So we’ll just improve. It’s early on in the season, so we’ll locate more and throw more flat grounds when we’re warm enough and get more reps in that way.”
Nico Acosta closed the door on Hoquiam in the fifth, stranding the bases loaded. He also put up a zero in the sixth.
“It was big,” Gaul said. “He threw strikes … Our guys have electric stuff when we throw strikes. We have to be able to throw strikes all seven innings that we play.
“If we’re throwing strikes and putting the ball in play, we’re gonna have an 80-90 win percentage this season,” Gaul continued. “If we execute those two things, which to me seem pretty basic, we should be successful.”
The Riverhawks tacked on two insurance runs in the bottom half of the inning to push the lead back to three.
Austin Reed drove in his third run of the day with another RBI single and Austin Avery brought home a run on an RBI fielder’s choice, and Rohan Feigenbaum pitched a perfect seventh to seal the win.
While Wednesday’s win wasn’t perfect, Gaul maintained that he has all the confidence in the world in his group moving forward this spring.
“I’ve told these guys that they can go as far as they want to,” Gaul said. “I think they have the talent to be league champions and to make a deep final four state run. Now whether they maintain the focus, that’s gonna be up to them.”
Toledo (3-0, 2-0 C2BL) will head to Winlock on Monday.
