Hornets Baseball Pulls Away from Bonney Lake 12-6

Cody Hughes drove in six runs and Kevin Johnson came out of the bullpen with 4.2 innings of relief pitching to help Enumclaw (7-1, 3-1 SPSL 3A) come from behind to beat visiting Bonney Lake (4-5, 3-2 SPSL 3A) on Friday night at Osborne Field in Enumclaw. 

"We lost a tough one Wednesday against Auburn Mountainview," Enumclaw Coach Eric Fiedler said. "But, like a good veteran team, we didn't panic and righted the ship."

The game was back and forth early on as both teams exchanged leads. Hughes got the Hornet offense started in the bottom of the first inning taking a Bonney Lake starting pitcher Joey Gamache fastball deep over the left center field fence to put Enumclaw ahead 4-2.

"I knew (Gamache) was starting off hitters throwing strikes," Hughes said. " I was just looking for something to drive."

The Panthers would fight back in the second inning as they took advantage of some mistakes defensively by Enumclaw and got a couple of timely hits from Taiki Green and Michael Gretler who smacked a single to drive in a pair of runs to put Bonney Lake ahead 6-5.

Fiedler called on relief pitcher Johnson to come in and keep the Panthers at bay until the Hornet offense could get back rolling.

"Kevin Johnson's performance tonight was at the top of the list for us," Fiedler said. "He just has a knack of making a pitch when we need it."

Johnson said, "I knew I had to come in making pitches. My cut fastball was definitely on and helped me get a lot of ground balls for my defense."

Fiedler also lauded his veteran catcher Trenton Disque for his handling of Johnson.

"Trenton called a very good game for Kevin tonight," Fiedler said. 

Enumclaw would take the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when senior Kyle Baumgartner drove a tough pitch out to left center field to give the Hornets back the lead at 7-6.

"Kyle had a very professional at-bat," Fiedler said. "He just does that more and more when he is at the plate."

Enumclaw's Eric Koenig put the game out of reach with a three-run double and he took on third on a Bonney Lake error in the outfield to push the Hornet lead out to 10-6. Hughes finished the scoring in the bottom of the fifith inning with a two-run single scoring Kyle Thompson and Michael Lucarelli, making it a 12-6 Enumclaw lead.

On the team's offensive prowess: "Our lineup is strong one through nine," Hughes said. "We just go up strong and try to bang the ball to the gaps."

With the win, the Hornets have plenty of momentum going into a busy week of games next week thanks to mother nature this spring and the havoc that has been played with the high school baseball schedule.

"We face a young, talented Peninsula team on Tuesday and Wednesday, and have Auburn Mountainview again on Friday," Fiedler said. "Its a huge week for us."

Friday's victory has given the team confidence going into next week, Johnson said.

"This win was huge -- it's raised our confidence," Johnson said. " We are a good team and it showed tonight."

Box Score

Bonney Lake 240 000 0--6-7-1

Enumclaw    500 520 x--12-12-2

WP- Johnson

LP- Gamache

HR: Enumclaw: Cody Hughes

On Deck for Enumclaw: Monday vs Lakes at 4 p.m.