Grays Harbor got the pitching performances it was looking for, but the bats fell silent in a 4-0 loss to Pierce Saturday at Olympic Stadium in Hoquiam.

Grays Harbor (1-12, 1-1 NWAC) lost its first conference game of the season despite a pair of solid outings from pitchers Mike Fitzpatrick and Kendall Johnson.

Fitzpatrick pitched the first 5 1/3 inning, surrendering two runs before giving way to Johnson in the top of the sixth.

Johnson inherited a base runner and had to pitch around an error, but ultimately escaped the frame without allowing Pierce (10-12, 2-0) to expand on its 2-0 lead.

Chokers head coach Mike Bruner said mixing speeds was key to the success of both of his pitchers.

“I thought they mixed their pitches up well. They had good command of their off-speed stuff and they did a good job of pitching to bad contact when the other team had runners in scoring position,” he said. “It was a gutsy performance by those two.”

Grays Harbor first baseman Michael Jarvis, left, congratulates pitcher Michael Fitzpatrick after pitching out of a jam in the third inning in a game against Pierce College on Saturday. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)

Johnson nearly finished the game without allowing another run, but ran into some trouble in the ninth inning when he surrendered a pair of runs.

Pierce’s Brock Wrolstad and Rhys De Highden each singled in the ninth to expand the Raiders’ lead to 4-0.

The Chokers looked to push a run across in the ninth but were kept at bay by Pierce starter Dominic Agron. Sawyer Rhoden came up with a one-out single and eventually advanced to third on a wild pitch, but was eventually stranded there at the end the game.

Bruner thought the plate approach was better in the ninth inning and wished his players had made an adjustment at the plate earlier in the game.

“We needed to make an adjustment and I don’t think that happened. We were facing a lefty that threw a lot of strikes and the first time we went around (the batting order) we knew what he was about,” he said. “We needed to make a couple of changes in our approach and it didn’t happen until the last inning of the game.”

The Chokers bounced back in their next contest with a 6-3 win against Green River on Sunday and will try to get above .500 in conference when they face Lower Columbia on Wednesday.

After falling to Pierce on Saturday, Bruner knew how crucial it was to pick up a win against a team like Green River.

“Our goal is to make the playoffs this year and that is a game we need if we’re going to stay on track to reach our goals,” he said.

100 010 002 – 4 6 1

000 000 000 – 0 2 1

WP – Agron (9 IP, 2 H, 12 K); LP – Fitzpatrick (5.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB)

Top Hitters: Grays Harbor — Rhoden (2-4); Pierce – Wrolstad (2-3, BB, 2 RBI), Cody Russell (2-4, BB).