Tuesday's Prep Baseball: Four Run Fourth Inning Propels Bearcats Past Bulldogs

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W.F. West plated four runs in the fourth inning to secure a 8-3 win over Montesano in a non-league baseball game at Bearcat Stadium in Chehalis on Tuesday.

Leandre Gaines started on the mound and threw two innings, allowing one hit, four walks and no runs while striking out three batters.

Daniel Fagerness came on in relief and pitched two innings, allowing no hits, no runs and one walk with three strikeouts. Brock Jones came on in the seventh inning and struck out three straight batters after a leadoff walk.

W.F. West also threw Brit Lusk and Luke Bennett in the game, and coach Bryan Bullock noted that was the plan against the Bulldogs.

“After last weekend, we wanted everybody just to throw 20 to 30 pitches today,” Bullock said. That was the plan going in was to get everybody a couple of innings today or one inning at a time and then we have one more game Friday non-league and then we’ll be ready for league.”

At the plate, Gaines was 2-for-3 with a triple, a RBI, a walk and two runs. Fagerness was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Josiah Johnson was 3-for-3 with two runs and a walk.

Even with nine hits and eight runs, Bullock knows the Bearcats can do better at the plate.

“They were definitely throwing some guys that had varying speeds and we didn’t do a very good job of adjusting from pitch to pitch and then we kind of got ourselves out a few times,” Bullock said. “We’ve got to do a better job of making adjustments.”

The Bearcats opened the scoring with two runs in the third, as a sacrifice fly by Fagerness brought home Johnson and Jones strolled home on a bases loaded walk.

W.F. West plated four runs in the fourth with Lane Douglass and Johnson scoring on bases loaded walks and a pass ball allowing two more runs to score for a 6-0 lead.

Montesano scored three runs in the fifth but the Bearcats scored two insurance runs in the sixth. Gaines hit an RBI triple to bring home Jones and Gaines scored on the ensuing pitch on a pass ball.

W.F. West (4-0) travels to Selah on Friday for their final non-league game of the season. The Vikings are 2-0 this season with a doubleheader sweep of Anacortes last Saturday.

“We scheduled them knowing they’re going to be one of the top teams in the state and that will definitely give us an opportunity to see a great team and understand what it’s going to take to beat a great team like it will be in our league play,” Bullock said. “Everybody in our league, it’s always tough. We want to get the experience to win a competitive game hopefully or at least be in a competitive game.”

Mules Knock Down Pirates

CATHLAMET — On Tuesday Adna found out the hard way that Cathlamet is a difficult place to play when they dropped a Central 2B League baseball game by a score of 11-1 to the Mules.

The game was decided in six innings due to the 10-run mercy rule. Wahkiakum scored in every inning except the third and pushed four runs across in the decisive sixth frame. Eight errors by the Pirates helped to move the Mules around the bases.

“We didn’t help ourselves. 12 walks. Eight errors. We were out hit, out defensed, out coached,” said Adna coach Jon Rooklidge. “We struggled against a very good pitcher. He’s a dandy. Two hits and 14 K’s speaks to his ability. He is tough in May, let alone the second week of the season, completely dominated that way.”

James Anderson is the Wahkiakum hurler who drew praise from the Adna coach. He pitched all six innings.

Bryce Lollar was the only Pirate who was able to get to Anderson when he launched a solo home run in the third inning.

Rooklidge said that his team was ailing from a bout of illness in the ranks and he tipped his cap to the players who stepped up to fill those spots.

“We had some kids that sucked it up and played their hearts out. We had kids playing sick, those contributed to mistakes. But take nothing away from (Wahkiakum), they outplayed us today. We’ll be fine. We’ll be right where we need to be and we’ll get them there,” Rooklidge added.

Adna (3-1) will host Toutle Lake on Thursday.



Loggers Come Up Short at Ocosta

WESTPORT — Onalaska lost a pitchers duel here on Tuesday as Ocosta earned a 2-1 victory in a non-league baseball contest.

Tanner McLean threw the final 3 ⅓ innings for the Loggers. He allowed no runs on just 28 pitches in the effort. On the flip side Ocosta enjoyed a complete game effort from Cole Hatton who surrendered just three hits and a lone run that came across in the third inning.

Cole Christensen, Carter Whitehead and Ashton Haight all turned in singles for the Loggers. Matt Kurzeika drove in the their only run.

“We played well, we didn’t hit very good and we faced another number one pitcher. We’re struggling a little bit there but we’ll get it. We’re putting the ball in play, just hitting it right at people,” said Onalaska coach Rocky Stanley. “It was a great non-league game. They’re a regional team from last year. He’s a quality pitcher who threw 101 pitches and got through it. It was well played by both teams. Good, beautiful weather, a real good non-league game for us.”

Onalaska (2-2, 1-1 league) will host Toledo on Thursday.

Tigers Bust Out the Bats in Toledo

TOLEDO — Napavine tallied 15 hits and two dozen runs in a 24-12 win over Toledo in Central 2B League baseball action.

Toledo didn’t go away quietly though, belting eight hits along the way and scoring seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to keep their hopes alive. That rally came after Napavine plated 10 runners in the top of the sixth inning to gain a 20-5 advantage.

Seth Butler earned the win for Napavine on the mound with five strikeouts, no hits, and only one earned run allowed in 3 ⅔ innings of work. Laythan Demarest and Scott Burdick helped to extinguish Toledo’s hot bats later in the contest.

Jesse Towns drove in four runs for Toledo, scoring two runs and whacking a double in the process. Bryce Marcil, who scored two runs, had the only multiple hit game for the home team and Rowdy Kirkendoll managed to draw a walk and score a pair of runs.

Dawson Stanley paced the Napavine offense with three hits, a RBI, and four runs scored. Butler added two hits, two RBI, a walk and four runs scored. Ben Woodrum and Landon Dahl each launched a home run as part of their two hit efforts and Braiden Osborn added another trio of hits and a pair of RBIs to the Tigers’ tally.

On Friday, Toledo (0-4-1, 0-3 league) will play at Onalaska, and Napavine (2-2, 1-1) will host Mossyrock.

Titans Take Out Winlock

WINLOCK — The Titans came out on the winning end of a slugfest here on Tuesday as their junior varsity squad bested the Cardinals 24-12 in non-league baseball action.

Pe Ell-Willapa Valley scored in every inning including a nine run fifth inning that sealed their victory. Ritzman led the way for the hot hitting Titans with three base knocks and five runs scored. Jones and Neva added three hits each while Krafczyk managed to reach base and score all five times he came up to the plate.

Krafczyk earned the win on the mound for the Titans.

Winlock scored three runs in the third and fourth innings before plating five runs in a failed comeback attempt in the bottom of the fifth frame.

Nathan Suhrbier was 3-for-4 at the plate for Winlock with three runs scored and a pair of doubles. K.K. Hinton had an RBI single, scored a run and drew two bases on balls.

Conner Gilreath started the game on the mound for Winlock and threw well but was undone by defensive errors behind him.

Winlock (0-3) will host Lake Quinault on Friday.