STEILACOOM — Seventeen singles and one double wasn’t a bad way for the Tigers to start the season, but an 18-1 win made it a little bit better.
After a sluggish start Centralia scored a combined 14 runs in the fourth and sixth innings to cruse to an 18-1 win over Steilacoom in nonleague baseball action here Wednesday afternoon.
The Tiger pitching combination of Jordan Hull, Kyle Perkins and Mason Musselman gave up just one run on four hits on the day, while the defense committed nary an error.
But it was the subtle offense that got the Tigers going.
Michael Stuart and Zack Baldwin each went a stellar 4 for 4, with Baldwin knocking in three runs.
Dominick Courcy went 3 for 3 and Jacob Payne collected the only extra-base hit of the day with a double in the sixth inning that drove in two runs.
“(Steilacoom) is a young team, and we are young too, but we’ve just got to get better every day,” said Centralia coach Jon Rooklidge. “It was just good to get on the field for the first time and see some live pitching.”
Hull started the game on the mound for Centralia and went three innings — giving up one run on two hits and struck out five. Perkins chipped in two innings on the rubber and struck out two, while Musselman closed out the game for the Tigers fanning all three batters that he faced.
“We played a young team and it showed,” said Rooklidge. “We had moments that it looked like it was the first game of the season and we had moments we looked fairly polished.”
Centralia (1-0) hosts North Mason this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. at Wheeler Field.
