Bremerton ends the year on a high note with a 4-0 win over Kingston

BREMERTON — The Knights closed the season on a positive note, winning three of their final four games and coming out victorious at home with a 4-0 victory over Kingston.

Several seniors went out on a positive note, including Hector Infante, who threw 6 2/3 shutout innings, giving up just five hits and one walk while striking out eight.

Andy McMartin recorded two hits and Estan Wakonabo struck the big blow, smashing a two-run double as part of a four-run third inning. Wakonabo also made a couple of nice catches in right field. Ryan Saylor brought in a run on a sacrifice fly.

“They played hard,” said head coach Steve Dickey. “They were up for the whole game, and they were excited for it.”

Tyler Harmeling opened that fateful third inning with a single and moved up to second on a wild pitch and third on a passed ball. Infante then walked; he sprinted out of the box, rounded first and went straight to second without a throw. Then Wakonabo stepped up and blasted a double down the left field line to put Bremerton on the board.

After McMartin singled and stole second, Wakonabo scored on a wild pitch. Saylor then came up and hit a fly ball to center deep enough to score McMartin.

That was all the offense Infante would need. The Bucs got a runner to third in the fifth with one out, but Infante induced a groundout and then struck out the next batter to end the threat.

Saylor came on to finish the game with two outs and a man on second. Terefa Rutherford reached on an error for Kingston, but McMartin recovered the throw and fired home to tag out the runner trying to score to end the game.

Bremerton got off to a slow start this season, struggling without two of its top arms. McMartin had an excellent season coming off Tommy John Surgery — he finished with 55 strikeouts in 38 1/3 innings with a 1.64 ERA — but Infante and Saylor, who combined for the shutout on Thursday, weren’t available early on.

“It would have been nice to have them earlier in the year,” Dickey said.

But the team eventually rounded into form in the second half. The Knights beat Olympic 2-1 and they took both league games from Kingston along with a non-league victory over Chimacum.

“I think we really progressed a lot over the course of the season,” Dickey said. “They worked hard the whole season.”

Bremerton 4, Kingston 0

King 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 5 1

Brem 0 0 4 0 0 0 x — 4 5 3

WP: Infante LP: Rapaport

Pitching

Kingston — Rapaport 6 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 5 K.

Bremerton — Infante 6.2 IP, 5 H, BB, 8 K; Saylor .1 IP.

Hitting

Kingston — Purser 2-2; Bates 1-3, 2 SB; Whalen 1-3; Tucker 1-3;

Bremerton — Wakonabo 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI, R; McMartin 2-3, R, SB; Saylor 0-2, RBI; Infante 1-2, 2B, BB, R; Harmeling 1-1; Farley 0-1, 2 BB, 2 SB.

— Mark Krulish is a reporter for Kitsap News Group. He can be reached at mkrulish@soundpublishing.com. Follow him on Twitter @MKrulishKDN.