Granite gets crushed on the Rock

Unflappable was a good word for the Falcon baseball team Friday afternoon.

In a pressure situation against Granite Falls, a team they had beaten 4-1 two days earlier, South Whidbey did the job at the plate, in the field and at the mound to put a close, 4-2 game in the win column and the team into third place in the North Cascades Conference standings.

On a warm, sunny day at South Whidbey High School that was perfect for baseball, the Falcons played consistently and came up with some great moments. The highlight of the game came in the bottom of the third inning. With his team up 2-0 and with freshman catcher Danny Parra on base, junior shortstop Dane Guetlin slammed his second home run of the season to put the Falcons up 4-0.

The game also had a weird moment. Just after Guetlin hit his homer, junior Jason Mannie almost got the strangest single of his career when he shattered an aluminum bat on a short, hard grounder to the left of first base. The Tigers managed to ignore the distraction of the exploding bat and threw Mannie out at first base.

The Falcons picked up their other two runs of the game in the second inning on a two RBI single by freshman Joey Smith that drove junior Joel Friesen and Mannie home.

On the mound, junior Stefan Kolbo earned his second NCC victory of the season, going the distance in the seven-inning game. Kolbo gave up one run each in the fourth and fifth innings, then kept the Tigers out of scoring range for the remainder of the game.

The Falcons are now 4-2 in the NCC and 5-4 overall.

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