Tonasket’s Kjeld Williams takes a cut against Omak on Saturday, April 14.

Tonasket’s baseball team had its chances against Omak in the first game of their Saturday, April 17, doubleheader.

The Pioneers, though, snapped a 3-3 tie with a five-run fifth inning and went on to sweep the Tigers with a 10-0 victory in the second game of the afternoon.

“We’ve been seeing improvement in practice,” said Tonasket coach Tim Cork. “But now we’re seeing it during games, too. We’ve gotten better, big time, especially with the pitching and defense.

“I think you’ll see us get better with the hitting, too. We just have a lot of guys who haven’t had a lot of at bats. We were stuck practicing in the gym for a few weeks, and it’s a lot different seeing the ball outside. We struck out a ton those first few games, but now we’re making a lot better contact.”

The Tigers trailed 3-0 early, but Dylan Fewkes’ RBI single scored Ian Young, and Jake Cory followed with a two-run double to tie it.

Fewkes, who walked five and struck out three in the complete game loss, had a solid outing, but the Pioneers rallied for all five of their runs in the fifth after two were out.

“Dylan pitched a very good game,” Cork said. “Our defense did a great job backing him, too.”

John Rawley pitched the second game for the Tigers, and though he allowed 15 hits, all were singles. He walked five and struck out two.

The Pioneers (4-3, 3-3 Caribou Trail League) broke the game open with a five-run fourth inning and ended it an inning early with a pair in the sixth.

Trent Turner had a double while Cory and Kjeld Williams each had singles.

The Tigers (2-9, 1-5) host unbeaten Cashmere for two on Saturday, April 21, and travel to Omak the following Tuesday.

Tonasket 7, Okanogan 0

TONASKET – The Tigers picked up their first CTL victory of the season by forfeit as the Bulldogs were unable to field a full team for Tuesday’s contest.

Unlike last season, when Okanogan shut down its program for the year, the win does count in the league standings. Last season’s Okanogan issue converted all teams’ games against the Bulldogs into non-league contests since some teams had played them and some had not when the decision was made.

Okanogan did return to action the next day, losing both ends of a mid-week doubleheader to Cashmere.