The Mountlake Terrace High School baseball team closed out their three-game series with the undefeated Shorewood T-Birds Friday night with a 6-2 loss, but Coach Andrew Watters was upbeat after the defeat, pleased with the performance of his squad against the top 3A team in the state.

“The first game was the one I was really proud of; we had a chance to win that game (a 3-2 loss in 10 innings on April 15). The other two games, I really believed that if we had just limited our mistakes we can win both of those games,” Watters said.

The T-Birds took advantage of two Terrace errors on Friday to score six runs on just eight hits. Shorewood converted scoring opportunities by utilizing singles (in the second and fourth innings), sacrifice flies (in the third and sixth innings), an error (fourth inning) and a fielder’s choice (fifth inning).

Terrace picked up their runs on a double steal in the second inning when Dominic DeMiero scored from third as Keegan Otter was stealing second base, and in the sixth inning when the team strung together a Jaden Yackley double and singles by Jason Shevenko and DeMiero.

Ian Oxnevad pitched a complete game for the T-Birds, giving up just six hits. Shevenko was saddled with the loss for MTHS despite a fairly solid outing on the mound. Watters was happy with the Terrace pitching on Friday and throughout the week, concluding that some run support for the starters was needed.

“I think our pitching was good and we proved that we could do some things on offense,” Watters noted. “We didn’t score enough runs. We had base runners out there and we had opportunities to drive them in; it’s just a matter of getting a few more clutch hits with the runners out there.”

Shorewood improved their Wesco League record to 11-0, 14-0 overall. “Everybody’s gone through losing to Shorewood at this point, it’s just that we had to do it three times in a row now,” Watters said.

“The fact (is) that we stayed competitive and played three close games with the #1 team in the state — I don’t know what they’re ranked, but if they’re not ranked No. 1 in state they should be,” he said of the T-Birds.

Watters used the Shorewood series as a measuring stick for his squad. “I think that, as I just told the players, this is our little litmus test to see how far away we are. And we’re really close. I think we’re confident moving forward.”

MTHS Baseball vs. Shorewood, April 18
Terrace 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 — 2 6 2
Shorewood 0 1 1 2 1 1 x — 6 8 1
Winning pitcher: Ian Oxnevad (SHS)
Losing pitcher: Jason Shevenko (MTHS)

Records: Mountlake Terrace 3-6 in Wesco League, 4-8 overall; Shorewood 11-0, 14-0
MTHS next game: versus Meadowdale, Tuesday, April 22, 4 p.m. at Mountlake Terrace High School (game to be streamed live on the Sound Live Sports Network)

— Story and photo by Doug Petrowski