2A Baseball: Tigers Beat Rival W.F. West for EvCo Crown

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The stakes and emotions were high, and the Tigers didn’t disappoint.

Centralia rolled senior night, a rivalry contest and a shot at the league championship all into one seven-inning game on Monday night, and used a big fifth inning to clear a 5-3 win over W.F. West at Ed Wheeler Field.

“That’s all you can ask for for a last league game,” Tiger senior Jake Sutton said. “Rivals, and the biggest game so far? It was cool.”

The win improved Centralia to 6-3 at the end of Evergreen 2A Conference play — tied with Tumwater for first, though the Tigers’ wins in two of three games against the Thunderbirds give Centralia the tiebreaker.

It was also Centralia’s second win in three games against the Bearcats, whom they had defeated 15-0 the last time the teams met, in Chehalis. W.F. West finished third in the league standings at 3-6, tied with Black Hills but holding a tiebreaker by winning two games against the Wolves.

“We knew the last game was not going to be the norm,” Centralia coach Rex Ashmore said. “We knew it was going to be a battle. They weren’t going to roll over for us. They’ve got a lot of pride in that program.”

The Tigers drew first blood in the fifth inning, after being blanked for four frames by W.F. West freshman Dakota Hawkins. A walk, a single by Riley Christensen and a bunt single from Sutton loaded the bases, and Gavin Kerner drew a walk to bring in the first run.

Nolan Wasson’s fielder’s choice ground ball brought in another run, and Sutton scored on a wild pitch. Christian Peters hit an RBI bloop single to right, and with two outs Chase Evinger added another RBI single, giving the Tigers the entirety of their runs.

Sutton finished the game 2 for 4, with both of his hits coming on bunts.

“Those might be the first bunts I’ve gotten down all season,” Sutton said, “But it worked out okay, I guess.”

Sutton was also dealing on the mound, holding W.F. West scoreless through his 5 ⅔ innings of work while allowing five hits and striking out two. He worked out of a two-on, one-out jam in the first, and stranded two more runners in both the fourth and fifth innings.

He was relieved by Christian Peters with two outs in the top of the sixth inning after issuing his third and fourth walks of the game.

“I came out and really didn’t have my curveball today, and that’s mostly what I throw, so I didn’t really have my stuff,” Sutton joked afterwards. “But I threw fastballs and got them to hit it, and the defense was all there behind me, which is really important.”



Peters then fanned the only batter he faced in the sixth inning, but W.F. West added a bit of intrigue to the game in the final stanza.

The Bearcats got singles from Brody Holcomb, Elijah Johnson and Hayden Dobyns, the latter of which drove in a run. Brandon Davis drew a walk, and Hawkins and Garrett Yarter each knocked in runs with consecutive singles.

“Christian got out of his comfort zone,” said Ashmore of Peters, typically a starter who had a 120-pitch outing in his last stint on the mound. “He does not come on in relief, and he threw a lot of pitches his last time out, but I wouldn’t rather have any other guy up on the mound in that situation.”

The string of hits left the bases loaded with one out and the go-ahead run on third base, before a 4-6-3 double play ended the game.

“We had opportunities there in the end,” W.F. West coach Bryan Bullock said. “But we also had opportunities in the first three innings that we could have pushed a couple runs across and maybe gotten some momentum, and let our pitchers pitch with a lead.”

Hawkins finished the game 3 for 4 at the plate, and struck out five with five walks and eight hits in five innings of work.

“He just loves the game,” Bullock said of Hawkins. “The inning where he gives up five runs, he walks one, they get a bunt single, they get a ball that bounces over our third baseman’s head, and then they clutched up. They got a couple clutch hits and separated it, but he didn’t hang his head.”

Michael Rose was 2 for 4 and Garrett Yarter went 2 for 3 for W.F. West, which out-hit the Tigers 10 to 8.

“Offensively, we just couldn’t bust through and make the most of our opportunities,” Bullock said.

Centralia, meanwhile, got two hits from Christensen, while Evinger and Kerner were each 1 for 2.

“It’s been a long and trying season, a little bit, and I’m glad we were able to overcome those things and get it done,” said Ashmore. “To be league champions is good, and more than anything it just gets us the No. 1 seed. We’ve always said that where we finish in league play doesn't matter — playoff time is where we want to get into. That’s where the fun is.”

Note: It was the final home game for Tiger seniors Sutton, Kerner, Drew Fagerness, Jacob Monohon, Eric Guzman, Max Dulin, and Mitch Halbleib. … Centralia (12-6) will host the No. 4 team out of the Greater St. Helens 2A League on Tuesday to open District 4 2A Baseball Tournament play, and will close out the regular season on Wednesday when the Tigers host Fort Vancouver in a nonleague game. … W.F. West (9-10 overall) will close out the regular season at 3A Columbia River on Wednesday, and open District 4 action on Tuesday at the GSHL 2A runner-up, which is expected to be either Woodland or Hudson’s Bay.