HS Baseball: WF West Pitches Shutout of Aberdeen

4/23/25

WF West 6, Aberdeen 0

(Chehalis, WA) Wednesday evening turned out to be another sunny and beautiful day for Evergreen 2A baseball. This time, it would be WF West as the host as they welcomed the Aberdeen Bobcats to town. One day after the Bearcats pulled away late for a 7-2 win over the Bobcats, Aberdeen would come in looking for a little bit of revenge while the Bearcats would look to stay within striking distance of the top spot in the league.

Connor Coleman spun a clean top of the 1st and WF West put some pressure on Aberdeen with a bit of a lineup change. Deacon Meller moved into the leadoff spot and singled to begin the game for the Bearcats. Meller would steal second and then had his sights set on third as well. As Meller dove into third, the throw would sail into left field. The Bearcat catcher popped right back up and sprinted home for the game’s first run, putting WF West in front 1-0.

Only three pitches were needed by Coleman in a scoreless 2nd, but Gabe Matthews also got into a groove on the mound for Aberdeen. Matthews lived in the strike zone and let his defense do the work as the score remained 1-0. Aberdeen struggled to get things going at the plate outside of Chad Fretts who had two of the first three hits in the game for the Bobcats.

In the bottom of the 4th, WF West finally got some breathing room. A leadoff walk for Ross Kelley saw him steal his way to third for Carlos Vallejo. The Bearcat first baseman sent a deep fly ball to center that would be caught by Donovan Hedgpeth. Kelley would come in to score to make it 2-0 with the bases now empty and two outs. However, the Bearcats weren’t done. A single for Miles Martin and a walk for Hudson McCallum put a couple runners on and they both moved up on a wild pitch. Connor Coleman would then get himself a little bit more breathing room as he sent a fly ball all the way to the fence in straightaway center field. Both Martin and McCallum scored on the Coleman double and the WF West lead had grown to 4-0.

Grady Westlund came in to pitch in the 5th after a couple of walks allowed by Connor Coleman, and he continued to shutout with a couple of strikeouts. Another error added a run for the Bearcats in the bottom of the 5th on a Hiroto Smaciarz groundout. In the home half of the 6th, WF West had a couple of runners on for the #9 hitter Alex Stafford. He would go the other way with a base hit to right to scored Brooks Ledgerwood, making it 6-0 Bearcats going into the 7th.

Aberdeen was aggressive at the plate the entire game and continued that approach in the final inning. The Bobcats finally put some pressure on Westlund with a couple of singles by Mason Hill and Sam Schreiber, both on the first pitch of the at-bats. Mylan Bruner then came to the plate and hit a grounder to second. Smaciarz would make the quick throw to Ross Kelley at short and his relay to first would be in time to finish the game. WF West had completed the shutout with a 6-0 win over Aberdeen.

Our Thorbeckes MVP of the game went to Connor Coleman for the WF West Bearcats. Not only did the lefty get the start on the mound, but he pitched 4 1/3 strong scoreless innings, only allowing three hits and three walks while striking out two. Coleman arguably did even more damage at the plate as he went 3-3 with a double and two runs batted in.

The win moves WF West to 12-2 overall and 7-1 in Evergreen 2A play. The Bearcats will be off on Thursday before hitting the road for a short trip to visit the Centralia Tigers on Friday at 4:30pm. Aberdeen falls to 5-6 on the season and 2-5 in league play. The Bobcats will also take Thursday off before hosting Shelton on Friday at 4:30pm. It will be the rubber game of the season series as the team’s split the first two meetings this season.