A major fire struck downtown Friday Harbor Thursday morning.

The next day the town’s high school baseball team, the defending NW2B2B/1B champions, was equally hot.

The Wolverines (5-0 in league) opened their April 8 conference game at La Conner with three consecutive line drive hits, setting the tone for a convincing 13-0 triumph.

The youthful Braves (1-4) were coming off a ten-run victory the week before over Concrete. But Friday Harbor made sure the home team did not win a second straight game.

“Friday Harbor,” coach Jeremiah LeSourd conceded afterward, “is a tough team.”

It didn’t help that field conditions were extremely windy. After yielding a pair of runs in the first inning, the team fell out of contention with some costly fielding miscues.

“In the second and third innings,” said LeSourd, “we got caught watching the game and dropped some fly balls. In the fifth, we lost our focus and Friday Harbor took advantage.”

Those defensive meltdowns spoiled a gutsy outing by starting pitcher Haydin Dinuis. He settled down nicely after the visitors scored twice in the first.

In the fourth he set the team down in order.

“Haydin really battled for us,” LeSourd said. “We’re proud of the way he led the team during some tough circumstances.”

Offensively, La Conner had some quality at-bats but could not string hits together. Dinuis, Nathan Bailey and C.J Edwards managed to do some talking with their bats, getting hits.

“The team learned that they could compete with everyone in our league,” said LeSourd, “but we can’t be spectators and have to remember to communicate on defense. It wasn’t much offense, but they’re learning to extend their at-bats and they’re seeing more pitches.”

The Braves resumed conference play late yesterday (Tuesday) at Mount Vernon Christian. The team returns home April 15 to face Coupeville (4-1 in league) in a 3 p.m. start. The lone Coupeville NW2B/1/B setback has been to Friday Harbor.

The Wolves defeated La Conner in March and are coming off a 16-4 league rout of Orcas Island.

In a related note: The La Conner High softball team lost 18-9 to Friday Harbor April 8. They play Coupeville Friday April 15 at 3 p.m.