Josh Ellis (46) throws a pitch during a game against I-5 Toyota Saturday afternoon at Wheeler Field in Centralia.
I-5 Toyota/Mountain Dew had about the best rebound a coach could ask for over the weekend. I-5 Toyota recovered from three-straight opening-season losses by blowing out two competitors across two doubleheaders; one on Saturday and one on Sunday.
The senior legion baseball team from Centralia thumped Rural Baseball Inc. by a combined score of 39-2 on Saturday. It followed up that performance by blasting Hockinson Hammer Time by a combined score of 21-1 on Sunday. That’s a combined run differential of 60-3.
“It was a good weekend,” Grunenfeld said.
Game One Sunday
Ben Wills went the distance for I-5 Toyota, throwing a one-hitter with nine strikeouts and two walks as I-5 breezed to a 10-0 victory. Hockinson committed four errors.
Offensively, I-5 Toyota was powered by a six-run outburst in the third inning and two runs each in the fourth and fifth innings. Eli Brown had two doubles and three RBIs and W.F. West’s Cade Haller added two hits. I-5 Toyota finished with sevens hits on the game.
Game Two Sunday
I-5 Toyota smashed 14 hits while holding Hockinson to just two runs, ending in an 11-1 victory. W.F. West’s Brit Lusk erupted for four hits and a double, along with driving in what would be the game-ending run in the bottom of the sixth. W.F. West’s Max Taylor also had two hits, while Kyle Casperson collected three hits and two doubles.
Brown pitched the first four innings while Centralia’s Benito Valencia came in as relief for the final two innings. The duo combined for 11 strikeouts.
“What was impressive to me was we gave up one unearned run today and our pitchers gave up three hits in 11 innings,” Grunenfeld said. “That was pretty impressive.”
Next up for I-5 Toyota is Lakeside Recovery from Issaquah. The game is set for 4 p.m., Wednesday, at Wheeler field.
