Frigid temperatures could not cool down the West Carteret bats as the Patriots rolled past Washington 12-3 Thursday night in Coastal Conference action.
West Carteret (6-2) jumped out to a four run lead in the first and never looked back as each player in the Patriots lineup produced at least one hit and six players drove in at least one run.
Washington (3-6, 2-5) starter Will Phelps struggled early as he yielded seven hits and five runs in two innings of work to get the loss.
“His changeup was working early and he was getting ahead with it but then he was leaving it up some when he had two strikes,” Washington coach Ryan Whitney said. “I feel like if we can get the ball down in the zone they probably don’t get as good of contact.”
Avery Woolard came on in relief of Phelps in the third inning and allowed four runs on three hits while fanning six and walking five batters.
After the four-run first, the Pats added two runs in the third, three in the fifth and three in the sixth.
While the West Carteret lineup was on fire, the Pam Pack hitters struggled against Pats pitcher Hank Fluck as he tossed six innings and scattered four hits while striking out two and walking three.
Will Swain led the Washington at the plate as he went 2-3 with a double and an RBI, while Austin Mitchell was 1-3 and scored two runs and Dustin Moore added a single.
Washington was able to make solid contact against Fluck most of the night but the West Carteret defense seemed to always been the right place.
“We struggled a little bit, but we had some opportunities,” Whitney said. “They got a double play ball on us early and then later we had bases loaded and got nothing out of it. We had some opportunities. If we could have gotten a hit here or there, you never know.”
The Pack scored its first run in the first when Swain doubled, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored when the Pats mishandled a Ryan Hardison grounder.
Washington scored in similar fashion in the fifth when Mitchell singled, stole second and advanced to third when West Carteret made a bad throw on his steal attempt. After that, Mitchell crossed home on a Swain RBI single. Mitchell scored the team’s third run in the sixth on a West Carteret error.

West Carteret    402    033    0    –    12    14    3
Washington    100    110    0    –    3    4    1
WP: Hank Fluck; LP: Will Phelps
Hitting: WC — Kris Lindner 1-3, Joe Mason 3-4 (RBI), John Harrell 2-5 (2 RBI), Andy Harrell 2-4 (RBI), Trent Carpenter 1-4 (HR, RBI), Sullivan Bryan 1-2 (2 RBI), Cody Dakin 3-4 (RBI), Alex Webb 1-2, Richard Randall 1-4.W — Austin Mitchell 1-3, Will Swain 2-3 (2B, RBI), Dustin Moore 1-2.