Centralia's Brandon Conradi pitches to an Aberdeen batter during the seventh inning of an Evergreen 2A Conference baseball game at Ed Wheeler Field on Tuesday in Centralia. Conradi pitched a complete game giving up two hits.
Centralia's Brandon Conradi pitches to an Aberdeen batter during the seventh inning of an Evergreen 2A Conference baseball game at Ed Wheeler Field on Tuesday in Centralia.
Centralia center fielder Andrew Pullin catches a fly ball in from an Aberdeen batter during the seventh inning of an Evergreen 2A Conference baseball game at Ed Wheeler Field on Tuesday in Centralia.
The Tigers’ last two home games followed a similar thread: minimal offense, one or two miscues, and a 1-run loss for the hosts.
Needless to say, Centralia was happy to put that trend in the rearview mirror Tuesday at Ed Wheeler Field.
Brandon Conradi pitched a gem, Andrew Pullin came up with a clutch hit and the Tigers edged Aberdeen for a 2-0 Evergreen 2A Conference win.
Conradi, a lefthanded junior, went all seven innings and allowed just two hits against a Bobcat team that beat the Tigers 1-0 back on March 26. At that point it was the Tigers’ third-straight loss and second loss at home in four days.
On Tuesday, though, one of the game’s little breaks went the Tigers’ way. Michael Stuart led off the sixth inning with a grounder that rolled under the glove and between the legs of the Bobcats’ second baseman, and Andrew Pullin smashed a triple off the left-center field wall to push across the first run of the game.
“Hey, that’s anybody’s ball game. A ball goes through the wickets, and we hit one at the right time,” Centralia coach Jon Rooklidge said. “It was a big at-bat by Andrew, and he needed that. And the team needed that.”
Jacob Payne hit a single through the left side of the infield two batters later to score Pullin, and provide Conradi all the cushion he’d need to finish out the game.
“I knew he’d come through,” he said. “It just took a little time.”
Aberdeen’s two hits — both singles through the infield — came in the second inning and put runners on first and third with two outs, but Conradi coaxed a grounder to third out of the next batter to end the threat.
“My fastball was moving pretty good, and that’s what helped me out a lot,” he said.
Conradi finished with six strikeouts and three walks, using 87 pitches over seven innings.
“We were hoping to get Brandon out there to give us four innings, and instead he gives us a complete game with under 90 pitches,” Rooklidge said. “He threw strikes, and was ahead in counts, and the defense played well.”
Zach Larson went all seven innings for Aberdeen with five strikeouts. Derek Putman and Jaeger Evinger also had singles for the balance of Centralia’s four hits.
“The hits haven’t been plentiful for us, so far,” Rooklidge said, “but we believe they will come.”
Notes: Centralia was without All-EvCo catcher and regular leadoff hitter Cole Housden due to an illness. Evinger filled in at both spots. ... Centralia (5-3, all league games) is scheduled to play at Aberdeen Tuesday.
Bearcats Blast Capital in Nonleaguer
OLYMPIA — W.F. West made the most of its first nonleague baseball game of the season, taking down 3A Capital 15-5 here Tuesday.
“Being a nonleague game, we used it as an opportunity to play some guys who haven’t had much playing time,” Bearcat coach Tom Zuber said.
Capital led the game 2-1 at the end of the third, but W.F. West scored 4 times in the fourth and added 6 runs in the fifth to blow the game open.
Tanner Gueller went 2 for 2 with an RBI, Ryan Hartman went 2 for 5, Logan James was 2 for 4 with a double and Dugan Shirer drove in 4 runs with a pair of hits.
“We weren’t stellar tonight, but we were solid when we had to be,” Zuber noted of his team, which committed four errors. “We were consistent defensively, hit consistently, ran the bases well and took advantage of opportunities.”
Hartman and Colton Watson split time on the mound, holding the Cougars to six hits.
“Our pitchers haven’t had much time on the mound but I was still pleased with how we threw today," Zuber said. "Ryan was a little rusty but when he got dialed in he threw pretty well and Colton came in and did the same for us for the remainder of the game."
W.F. West (9-0 overall, 8-0 in league) will play at rival Centralia on Friday.
At Centralia
TIGERS 2, BOBCATS 0
Aberdeen 000 000 0 — 0 2 1
Centralia 000 002 x — 2 4 2
Batteries: Aberdeen — Zach Larson and Ashton Williamson; Centralia — Brandon Conradi and Jaeger Evinger
At Olympia
BEARCATS 15, COUGARS 5
Capital 002 102 0 — 5 6 6
W.F. West 001 460 4 — 15 12 4
Batteries: Capital — Kaerr, Uzwanski (4), Benfield (4), McCabe (4); W.F. West — Hartman, Watson (5) and White, T. Gueller (5)
