After a tough loss against Newport to start the 4A Kingco season, Redmond High School baseball coach Dan Pudwill and the Mustangs were looking to right the ship.

Consider it done as the Mustangs blanked Eastlake, 5-0, Tuesday night at Hartman Park, fueled by a pitching gem from junior Dylan Davis.

Davis went six innings and struck out eight while giving up only one hit, a single to center by cleanup hitter Sam Nasci.

“When he’s in control of his pitches, he’s tough to beat,” Pudwill said of Davis. “He’s just really good. There’s not a whole lot to say.”

SLIP AND SLIDE

The game was originally scheduled for the grass field at Eastlake on Monday night, but torrential rains caused the contest to not only be moved to Hartman’s turf field, but postponed until slightly more favorable conditions on Tuesday night.

Although it was clear most of the day, the skies opened up at game time, with the rain continuing through the early innings.

With the inclement weather, both teams knew the importance of drawing first blood in case the game would be called early.

After a brief scare in the top of the second when the Wolves had two runners on and just one out, Davis struck out Quinn Hawksworth and induced Andrew Carey to hit a grounder to defensive wizard Josh Bircher at second base to end the threat.

Redmond catcher Ryan Beliel laced a single to left for the game’s first RBI in the bottom of the second, setting up Michael Conforto’s heroics in the next inning.

With Eastlake pitcher Alex Dean struggling to find the strike zone in the steady rain and issuing back-to-back walks, Conforto drove a 2-1 pitch deep over the right-field fence for his fourth home run of the year.

“My mindset was just to get a base hit, drive a run in and get the game going,” said Conforto of his crucial at-bat. “But in the back of your mind, you’re always thinking, ‘I’m gonna hit this one out.’ It was a line drive, right through the ball.”

Added Pudwill, “He’s coming up with some big home runs for us … and they’re not cheap. That ball goes a long way.”

LIGHTS OUT

After giving up a walk in the second inning, Davis and the Mustang defense were lights-out, retiring 14 of the next 16 batters while not allowing an Eastlake runner to reach second base for the rest of the game.

Offensively, the Mustangs got a big break in the fifth when Matt Kimmel launched a fairly routine fly ball that the Eastlake outfielder lost in the lights and dropped in fair territory for a triple. A subsequent throwing error allowed Kimmel to score on the play.

Could this be a sign of good things to come for the Mustangs, one of the odds-on league favorites?

“It’s huge to get that momentum back,” Davis said. “We have to keep taking it to (teams), don’t let up. We kind of have a chip on our shoulders now (with the loss to Newport).”

Pudwill was thrilled overall with his squad’s effort.

“We had a little heart-to-heart tonight on how they’re coming out and playing with focus and energy,” he said. “I think they responded really well. We were in control all game.”

The Mustangs play again this afternoon at Skyline at 3:45 p.m.

To view and/or purchase pictures from this game, please visit photographer Matt Campbell’s Web site at www.sportspixs.com