Baseball Game Preview: Mercer Island Islanders vs. Newport - Bellevue Knights

The Mercer Island Islanders will head out on the road to square off against the Newport - Bellevue Knights at 5:00 p.m. on Friday. Mercer Island will be strutting in after a win while Newport - Bellevue will be coming in after a defeat.

Mercer Island took a loss when they played away from home on Monday, but their home fans gave them all the motivation they needed on Wednesday. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past Bellevue 6-5. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Islanders have posted against the Wolverines since June 1, 2021.

Mercer Island got a great performance from Chase Koehler as he tossed six innings while giving up just two earned (and two unearned) runs off three hits. Koehler has become a key player for the Islanders: the team is 2-1 when he allows at most three hits, but 1-7 otherwise.

Baird Sirriani

Hits (Career)

04/09/25 vs Bellevue	3
04/04/25 @ Mount Si	1
03/26/25 @ Redmond	1
03/24/25 vs Bothell	1
03/19/25 @ Bellevue	1

On the hitting side, Baird Sirriani was excellent, scoring a run while going 3-for-3. Those three hits gave him a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Tino Pizzo, who got on base in all four of his plate appearances with one stolen base and one RBI.

Meanwhile, Newport - Bellevue lost 10-2 to Mount Si on Wednesday. The Knights have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

Newport - Bellevue saw four different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Julian Unay, who scored a run while getting on base in four of his five plate appearances. Alex Ohira also deserves some recognition as he scored his first run of the season.

Newport - Bellevue's loss dropped their record down to 1-10-1. As for Mercer Island, the victory snapped their losing streak at four games and leaves them with a 3-8 record.

Mercer Island couldn't quite finish off Newport - Bellevue in their previous matchup back in June of 2021 and fell 4-2. Can the Islanders avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.