A go-ahead three-run sixth inning by the Gig Harbor Tides spoiled South Kitsap’s return to Cheney Stadium in Tacoma April 6, the Wolves falling 7-4 in the full return of the Tribute to Our Troops baseball game.

The Wolves sought to continue their hot stretch after three straight wins in a busy first week of the month. Coach Nick Kenyon said the team has had a stretch of good communication and gelling. “They’re really good at supporting each other, and we’ve learned a lot these last couple weeks,” he said.

But the opposing dugout did not want to see its own five-game winning streak snapped. The Tides struck first on the Minor League diamond, Cooper McCutcheon lining a triple down the right field line. A Tristan Schaefer grounder plated the baserunner.

But in the second inning an RBI single from Santiago Herrera and Thomas Frei getting on by way of a fielder’s choice gave SK a 2-1 lead.

Gig Harbor delivered the next blow in the third, a couple fielding miscues leading to the plating of their own pair of runs.

Randall McGaugh flipped the score again in favor of the Wolves, driving in two runners on a single in the top of the fifth.

But the Wolves would lose that lead about as quickly as they had taken it on a solo home run by Cole Krilich of the Tides. Gig Harbor then added to more.

Kenyon expressed enthusiasm for his players in the back-and-forth showing.“I thought we did a good job competing today, you know? I can’t be mad at what we did today. It wasn’t the ending we wanted, but we’re ready to roll.”

The Wolves took the field for much more than a baseball game, wearing military green at a stadium typically hosting the Tacoma Rainiers AAA team of the Seattle Mariners. The backs of their jerseys and the Tides carried the names of military veterans and officers, and those jerseys would be gifted to those very same men and women afterward.

“It means so much to them, the families and obviously the people that they are representing today,” Kenyon said.