Peel pitches no-hitter as Mariners tough out 'Big Bucks'
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LIBBY – The Big Bucks Tournament hosted by Libby has been the Mariners “bane” for the last few years, and this year was no exception. Despite a strong first day start picking up two wins, including a no-hitting performance on the mound, the Mariners struggled to stay alive in the final two games and ultimately placed fourth in the tournament.
On Thursday the M’s opened up tournament play with a big 5-2 win over the AAA Rainier out of Graham, Wash. Bradley Pichler picked up the win on the bump with an aggressive seven strikeouts allowing only two Rainiers on base with walks and one earned run off of five scattered Rainier hits.
Zeke Webster-Yaqui took charge at the plate, going a perfect 4-4 with a triple and a pair of RBIs. TJ Olson added three more runs off of two doubles for the Mariners.
Game two on Thursday saw Mariners pitcher Derek Peel pick up his first career no-hitter against the Tri-County Cardinals. The M’s ran away with the 8-0 victory that ended in the fifth inning due to the tournament’s eight-run mercy rule. Olson led at the dish going 2-3 with a two run shot over the left center wall. Peel threw all five innings facing 16 batters, throwing two strikeouts and allowing only one walk.
A humble Peel said it felt “pretty awesome,” but also credits his team to his success.
“I just gave everything that I had to my team,” he said. “They backed me up on everything. If they weren’t there, I wouldn’t have had it. They helped me out a lot,” Peel said, adding with a wink that this may be his first no hitter, but definitely not his last.
Friday brought the M’s to share the field with Moscow, Idaho’s Blue Devils, a team that posed feisty with the Mariners at last season’s tournament, handing the M’s a loss. The Blue Devils did it again, dropping the M’s to the consolation bracket with a 3-17 loss. Moscow logged 13 hits to Mariners five including five doubles and a grand slam hit off of M’s pitching. Olson led at the plate for the Mariners going 2-3.
Playing for third on Sunday, the Mariners were pitted in a consolation battle against AAA Rainer. With Rainier looking to redeem a win from the earlier loss against the M’s, the Mariners faced a determined opponent. Though the Mariners held the lead for most of the game, a trying seventh inning saw Rainier take advantage of plating two runs to give them the one run lead, leaving the M’s to fall 3-4. Alex Killian logged an impressive 10 strikeouts and three walks from the mound while Bransen Krebs was 1-2 with two runs batted in.
The Mariners will take a break from tournament play this week with a trip to Cranbrook, BC June 25, and will compete for conference wins in Florence June 27 and then head to Eureka to take on the Rangers June 29.
Results
Mariners 2 0 2 0 1 0 0 – 5 9 1
AAA Rainier 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 – 2 5 1
Ryan Pablo 2-3, Zeke Webster-Yaqui 4-4, Alex Killian 1-4, TJ Olson 2-3, Bransen Krebs 0-3, Jacob Harrod 0-2, Trevor Paro 0-3, Brennen Andrews 0-3, Brenen Abromeit 0-0.
2B – Olson (2). 3B – Webster-Yaqui. RBIs – Olson (3), Webster-Yaqui (2).
Mariners 1 0 1 6 – 8 10 2
Tri-County 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 0 4
Ryan Pablo 1-2, Zeke Webster-Yaqui 1-3, Alex Killian 2-3, TJ Olson 2-3, Bransen Krebs 2-3, Jacob Harrod 1-3, Trevor Paro 0-1, Jared Young 0-2, Brennan Andrews 1-2, Bradley Pichler 0-0.
2B – Krebs. HR – Olson. RBIs – Olson (2), Pablo, Killian, Krebs, Harrod.
Mariners 1 0 0 1 0 – 3 5 2
Moscow 6 0 0 5 6 – 17 13 1
Ryan Pablo 1-3, Zeke Webster-Yaqui 0-3, Alex Killian 1-3, TJ Olson 2-3, Bransen Krebs 0-1, Bradley Pichler 1-2, Trevor Paro 0-1, Brennen Andrews 0-2, Aaron Rasmussen 0-1, Jared Young 0-0.
2B – Olson. HR – Killian. RBIs – Killian.
Mariners 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 – 3 4 2
AAA Rainier 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 – 4 6 3
Ryan Pablo 1-3, Zeke Webster-Yaqui 0-2, Alex Killian 0-2, TJ Olson 2-2, Bransen Krebs 1-2, Bradley Pichler 0-2, Jacob Harrod 0-3, Trevor Paro 0-2, Brennen Andrews 0-1, Derek Peel 0-2.
2B – Pablo. RBIs – Krebs (2), Olson.
