The Enterprise Giants handed the Wallowa Red Sox their first loss of the season Saturday afternoon in Babe Ruth play, earning a split in a doubleheader at Cougar Field in Wallowa. The visiting Giants won the opener by a 10-6 score, then fell 8-1 in the second game.

The loss leaves the Red Sox with a 12-1 record on the season, compared with a 5-5 record for the Giants. League play was scheduled to conclude this week.

It was a six run outburst in the 5th inning of the opener that took away the Red Sox team’s perfect season. Trailing 4-3 at the time, the Enterprise team under the tutelage of coach Peg Vanderzanden parlayed six runs out of five hits in the inning to mount an insurmountable advantage. The big blow in the inning was a three-run home run off the bat of Tyler Coppin.

Four consecutive singles off the bats of Payton Steinbeck, Casey McKenzie, Colton Weber and Tanner Shelton following a walk to Jake Vanderzanden gave the Giants three runs and the lead before Coppin barely cleared the fence in left center field.

Cody Burgess hit a solo HR for Wallowa in the bottom of the fifth inning, but it was too little, too late.

Enterprise outhit the Wallowa team nine to three in the first game.

Wallowa’s hits came from Burgess, Caleb Oveson and Luke Service.

Steinbeck had three singles for the Giants.

Wallowa’s Ryan Harshfield was a key performer in the latter game, throwing three strong innings from the mound and popping a three-run home run of his own. Harshfield struck out four batters and gave up one unearned run in pitching the second through the fourth innings of the second encounter. He gave up the only two hits the Giants were to collect in the second six-inning game.

Kainoa Delatori had earned a walk and Jake Redfield got on base via an error prior to Harshfield’s blast which elevated a 2-1 Red Sox lead to 5-1 in the 5th inning.

Though only getting four hits, the victorious Red Sox took advantage of eight walks issued to their batters. Harshfield had his HR and a single and both Burgess and Geoffrey Long knocked doubles.

The Giants only two hits in the second game were singles by Vanderzanden and Weber.