Correction: Montesano outfielder that made a diving catch in center field was Carson Klinger.
MONTESANO — On the strength of a pair of strong starts on the mound, Montesano won two low-scoring games against Tenino on Wednesday to give themselves a little breathing room at the top of the 1A Evergreen league standings.
Monte beat Tenino, 2-0, in the first game and got a 3-2 win in the second game of a doubleheader at Vessey Field behind stellar outtings from starting pitchers Nate Kloempken and Evan Bates.
Both pitchers went the distance with Kloempken pitching the two-hit shutout to start the day.
Montesano head coach Mike Osgood said Kloempken’s command was on full display in the opening game.
“He has command of three pitches he can command. He can throw his fastball, curveball and slider at any time,” he said. “We got a couple of timely hits in that first game and we played some good defense behind him in that first game.”
While Kloempken didn’t receive a whole lot or run support he did benefit from some clutch hits from Kobe Gallinger, who doubled and eventually scored in the second inning.
Monte (9-1 overall, 5-0 1A Evergreen) added another run when Teegan Zillyett worked a walk, stole two bases and came around to score an insurance run in the fifth.
The Bulldogs defense committed just one error behind Kloempken to help preserve he victory.
Similar to the first game, runs were at a premium in the nightcap as well.
In the second meeting of the day, Montesano handed the ball to Evan Bates with the hopes that his performance would mirror the one the Bulldogs got earlier.
Bates did not disappoint and only surrendered two earned runs in seven innings of work.
Monte’s defense played well for the most part, and even benefited from a diving catch from Carson Klinger in center field but the infield experienced some difficulties.
After a misplayed ground ball and a bad throw extended the fourth inning, Monte’s infielders struggled again when a throw sailed over the catcher’s head on a run down that allowed Tenino’s Logan Brewer to tie things up.
“We had the one inning where we made three errors and gave them that one run but that was our only bad inning of defense all day,” Osgood said. “We’ll take it but we expect to not have two errors in an inning.”
After two diving plays in the outfield snuffed out a potential rally in the fourth, the Bulldogs continued to make solid contact in the fifth and drove in two runs. Parker Plato got the inning started off with a double and was driven in shortly thereafter with a double off the bat of Braden Dohrmann, who later came around to score what proved to be the winning run.
Osgood is hoping his offense can pick things up and give his pitching staff a little more breathing room as the season progresses.
“At this point in the season, I figured we’d be scoring a few more runs so we want to get the bats going,” he said. “The pitching has been good for us all year, we’ve played good defense but we have to get the bats going. I think we’re a better hitting team than what we’ve been showing lately.”
Tenino 000 000 0 — 0 1 2
Monte 010 010 x — 2 4 1
Winning pitcher — Kloempken (walked one; struck out three). Losing pitcher — Gubbe (walked one; struck out two).
Monte 100 020 0 — 3
Tenino 000 100 1 — 1
Winning pitcher — Bates. Losing pitcher — Deoskey.
