The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

The Wahkiakum Mules baseball team started their season with a 9-1 loss to Naselle on Monday.

With wet weather expected, the game was moved to Astoria to play on a turf field.

“Naselle is the defending state champs in their classification,” Mule Coach Garrett Radcliffe said, “and we had a very young inexperienced lineup due to players being ineligible for various reasons.”

“We were able to jump out to an early 1-0 lead thanks to some great small-ball from the top of their lineup,” Radcliffe said. “A number of defensive errors allowed Naselle to find a groove and never let up.

Tanner Collupy started on the mound and pitched two innings, followed by Parker Leitz with two more innings of solid work. Jayden Stoddard and Cooper Carlson also made appearances out of the bullpen.

“We were a bit stifled at the plate, but with a lineup of very young and inexperienced Mules I still felt good about our performance,” Radcliffe said. “We went through similar growing pains last season and will just look to grow from this and get ready to face Kalama in our league opener.”

The Mules hosted Kalama on Wednesday, and travel to Kalama today (Thursday). On Monday, they head to Morton/White Pass.