ARLINGTON — The Arlington baseball team defeated Kelso 3-1 in the first round of the 3A state tournament May 22.

The game was tied 1-1 for six innings until Daniel Smith broke out a two-run double in the top of the seventh.

“We had guys on base we just weren’t able to get the bigs hit,” Striegel said. “And in that inning Daniel came up with a big clutch-hit and drove one in the gap.”

Pitching by Tristan Sheward while being backed by Alrington’s fielding, held Kelso to just one run.

“Tristan threw really well,” Striegel said. “He did a good job working his breaking ball. He had guys on base and he got out of it.”

Arlington didn’t go on to win the next game, but still grinded it out with the eventual regional champion Lakeside.

Arlington was down 5-0 but a bases-loaded walk by Branden Purdue and an RBI by Gavin Rork in the third inning made things interesting, with the score 5-2.

Other than another RBI by Rork, Arlington couldn’t produce much else offensivley and ultimately fell 7-3.

Though the season came to an end, Striegel has said before how pleased he was with the team, seeing they have not made the state playoffs since 1994.

Arlington finished the season 17-9 overall, second in the Wesco 3A North.