BELLINGHAM – Nooksack Valley senior Kirk Veldman’s single to right field in the top of the eighth inning broke a 5-5 tie, scoring Tyler Weed, and ultimate won the game for the Pioneers 6-5 over Bellingham at Joe Martin Field on Monday night.
The game was full of twists and turns before it went into extra innings. Bellingham’s starting pitcher, Ethan Paxton, had to leave the game early when he injured his collarbone while sliding. He struck out two batters in the first inning, but couldn’t finish the inning in the second.
The Red Raiders took advantage of some Pioneer errors in the third inning, scoring four runs, taking a 4-2 lead. Senior Nick Knutson, who took over for Paxton on the mound, knocked in a run, and also scored later in the inning on a wild pitch.
Nooksack sophomore Easton Zylstra took over for Kyle Veldman on the mound, and was tremendous, going three innings, allowing just one hit, no runs, one walk and striking out four.
The Pioneers tied the game in the fourth when senior Casey Bauman hit a line drive double off the center field wall, scoring Kirk Veldman. Koert Wiedkamp then hit a double of his own, scoring Bauman.
Nooksack scored again in the top of the seventh when Zylstra walked, scoring Kirk Veldman. However, Bellingham’s Kyle Payne knocked a home run to left field to tie the game up in the bottom of the seventh, sending the game into extra innings when Veldman’s heroics won the game, and junior Evan Neitling’s pitching silenced the Bellingham bats in the bottom of the eighth.
The Pioneers (1-0) travel to Mount Baker to take on the Mountaineers tomorrow at 4:30 PM, and the Red Raiders (0-1) travel to Lynden Christian (0-1) today to face the Lyncs at 4:30 PM.
