Head coach Keith Wallin and the BHHS Bruin boys varsity baseball team finished their pre-season on a beautiful day for baseball Saturday afternoon, taking on their Hwy. 101 rivals to the south, the Del Norte Warriors.
The Bruins came into the game on a 4 game win streak with a 7-2 pre-season record, racking up 113 runs of offense, while pitching and defense held opponents to just 21 runs in those 9 games.
The Bruin boys picked up right where they had left off Saturday, with senior righthander Jason DeShon #16 on the mound, retiring three of four Del Norte Warriors in the top of the first and holding the Warriors scoreless.
Offensively the Bruins sent junior short-stop Seth Valliere #15 to the plate to start the bottom of the 1st. Valliere singled on an infield hit, stealing second and third, before scoring on a infield grounder to second.
The Bruins would take a 1-0 lead going into the second inning, and the ensuing 5 innings would turn into a pitchers duel between DeShon and Warriors pitcher Ethan Thomas, who struck out 9 Bruins, allowing 1 run off of two hits in 5 innings. DeShon threw a full game, striking out 10 for the Bruins.
Both teams went back and forth until the bottom of the 7th, when the Warriors put a man on base on a slowly hit ground ball up the middle. DeShon got the next batter to ground back to the pitcher, advancing the Warriors base runner to second and struck out Del Norte’s next batter. The Warriors rallied with 2 outs, and two on, getting a line drive single to centerfield scoring 2, giving the Warriors a 1-2 lead.
Trailing 1-2 in the bottom of the 7th, the Bruin bats would go down in order, dropping the final game of the pre-season, and ending with a 7-3 pre-season record.
The Bruins start regular season play Wednesday, April 20th, on the road, traveling to Sutherlin to take on the 4-5 Bulldogs at 4:00pm.
