Joseph Henrickson
Staff Writer
Baseball season is underway once again as we welcome spring here at Pierce College. The Raiders, along with new head coach Kevin Davis are known as the 2012 NWAAC C Champions and with the slate wiped clean, the plan is to keep that title.
There is a short list of players returning to the team this year but the club will have to go without sluggers Josh Potter and Brian Corliss. Last year, the two combined for a total of 71 RBI to help lead the team. One of the players taking their place is first baseman Wesley Hoskins. Hoskins is off to a strong start already with 8 hits in 12 at bats, and 3 of them being doubles. Also returning are Deven Kaaiwela, Dj Gee, Kyle Pegram, d’Aundray VanSlyke, Michael Sherwin, Trever Quitugua, Levi Goodin, Austin Weber and Elliot Morris.
Dj Gee was a very potent part of the offense last year and is a returning player this year, however, he also had Tommy John surgery and is currently inactive. Coach Davis hopes that he can return at some point during the season but that may be out of the question.
Last year Elliot Morris returned after missing the entire 2011 season due to Tommy John surgery and started the season with a very low pitch count. Currently healthy, he took the hill as the starter in the first game of the season and pitched 6 strong innings giving up just 1 run on 2 hits while striking out 4 and not walking any. From there the game got out of hand as Skagit Valley tied the game in the ninth and ended up winning the game in the 11th on a wild pitch.
In the second game of the season the Raiders were shutout 4 to 0 as Skagit starter, Jens Jensen went the entire 7 innings giving up just 4 hits. A bright spot in the game for Pierce was Kyle Pegram who collected 2 of those hits himself including a double.
Kyle Kornegay got the first win of the season for the Raiders as the starting pitcher in game 3. Kornegay went a strong 6 innings giving up just 1 run on 3 hits and striking out 10 batters along the way. He’s a lengthy right hander from Anchorage, Alaska that stands at 6’5” tall and already looks very impressive on the mound. Austin Weber closed out the game pitching the final 3 innings without giving up a run or even a hit while striking out 2 and collected his first save.
Game 4 had its own heroics as the Raiders went into the bottom of the 6th inning tied at 2. Hoskins led off the inning with a double and was followed by VanSlyke who got on base the hard way getting hit by a pitch. With runners at first and second and only one out, Josh McCoy hit an RBI double, scoring Hoskins and advancing VanSlyke to third. After a DJ Elmer walk to load the bases, Trever Quitugua took four balls as well to walk in another run and put the Raiders up 4 to 2 and seal the victory.
The Raiders have played four games against Skagit Valley already and split the series at 2 games each. The first two on March 2nd were losses but they bounced back on the 3rd and won both games of the double header. The team travelled down to Pendleton, Oregon for a double header on March 9th and then Walla Walla, Washington on the 10th and will be playing at home again on the 16th at Mt. Tahoma High School.
As students you are encouraged to come out to the games and root on your team. Keep the schedule, visit the team site at www.pierce.ctc.edu/athletics/baseball/ and even check each player’s current stats at www.pointstreak.com/baseball/team_stats.html?teamid=31245&seasonid=20294. If you’re a baseball fan, you don’t want to miss the excitement of another championship season.
