PE ELL — The Titans played two solid games to earn a sweep of Ilwaco in a Pacific 2B League baseball doubleheader here on Tuesday.
Pe Ell-Willapa Valley won Game 1 in five innings, 10-0. Hunter Hoke pitched a complete game, allowing five hits and no earned runs while striking out eight batters. He helped his cause at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a double and a RBI.
Luke Gerow was 3-for-4 with three RBI and Donnie Ward was 2-for-3 with two runs. Frank Roonsburg added a hit, two runs and three RBI for the Titans.
PWV scored a run in every inning, scoring two runs in the second and three runs in the third and fifth innings to end the game early.
“We played awesome today. First game, we hit the ball real well out of the gate,” PWV coach Kelly Barnum said. “Ilwaco ran a full shift against Luke Gerow, he was 3-for-4 going the opposite way.”
Game 2 went seven innings but the outcome was the same in an 11-5 PWV win. Garrett Keeton, an eighth grader, started on the mound and threw 2 ⅓ innings, allowing four hits, four earned runs and two walks with two strikeouts. Max Smith completed the game in relief, allowing four hits, one earned run and one walk with seven strikeouts.
At the plate, Gerow was 2-for-3 with a double, a run, a RBI and two walks. Hudson Barnum had a double, two runs and two RBI and Kollin Jurek and Kaden Ritzman each had a hit, a run and a RBI.
Ilwaco plated three runs in the first, but PWV tied the game with three runs in the second. After the Fishermen regained the lead with one run in the third inning, PWV broke the game open with seven runs in the fifth inning to secure the win.
“It was beautiful. We hit the ball well, played great defense, absolute great team win,” Barnum said.
PWV finished the season 13-5 overall and 13-3 in league games. The Titans are the No. 2 seed out of the Pacific League and will host the first round of the District 4 2B baseball tournament on Saturday.
The Titans won 11 of their last 12 games and are riding momentum into the tournament.
“We really hit the ball well during that streak, we’ve been stroking the baseball,” Barnum said. “One through nine, making very few mistakes on the field. We’re going to be a really tough out in the tournament.”
Bearcats Complete Regular Season Sweep of Tigers
W.F. West’s Brock Jones pitched 5 ⅔ quality innings to help the Bearcats earn a 9-3 win over Centralia in an Evergreen 2A Conference baseball game at Bearcat Stadium in Chehalis on Tuesday.
Jones allowed one hit, two unearned runs and one walk while striking out 12 batters. Brit Lusk pitched the seventh and allowed one hit to close out the game.
Benito Valencia had a solid outing in his first start against the Bearcats but didn’t have that same success today. He threw 3 ⅓ innings, allowing five hits, four earned runs and two walks while striking out four batters. Joseph Unger pitched the rest of the game, allowing three hits, one earned run and one walk with one strikeout.
At the plate, W.F. West’s Lane Douglass was 2-for-4 with a run and Josiah Johnson was 2-for-3 with a double, a run, two RBI and a walk. Brit Lusk was 2-for-3 with two doubles, two runs and a RBI and Cyrus Bunker had a double, a run and a RBI for the Bearcats.
Centralia’s Colby Steele had a hit and two RBI and Derek Beairsto added a hit and a RBI. Chris Kirner hit a double and Jackson Hull also had a base knock for the Tigers.
W.F. West scored two runs in the first inning for an early lead. The Bearcats scored five runs in the fourth and two runs in the fifth to lead 9-0. Centralia scored all three of their runs in the sixth inning.
“I really liked our energy at the start of the game. Brock threw really well, kids had some quality at bats early in the game,” W.F. West coach Bryan Bullock said. “We made them work and we made that pay off in the fourth inning.”
W.F. West (18-1, 14-0) travels to Tumwater to take on Black Hills on Thursday in the regular season finale. Centralia (10-9, 6-8) will host Rochester on Thursday.
Rochester Strong Enough to Defeat Aberdeen
ROCHESTER — It wasn’t their best game, but Rochester was able to secure the season sweep of Aberdeen in a 7-4 win in five innings in EvCo baseball action here on Tuesday.
Keegan Goldrick pitched a complete game for the Warriors, allowing one earned run, five hits and two walks while striking out three batters on 90 total pitches.
Landon Hawes was 4-for-4 with two runs and Tyler Soderback was 2-for-3 with two RBI. Jayden Lancaster had a pair of hits for the Warriors.
Rochester led 3-1 after the first inning and plated three more runs in the sixth inning to insure the victory.
“We played just well enough to win. I don’t know what it was, there was a weird feel to the night. We were flat for some odd reason tonight,” Rochester coach Brad Quarnstrom said. “We played well enough to win and that’s not going to cut it in the upcoming weeks.”
Rochester (9-7, 8-6) travels to Wheeler Field on Thursday to face Centralia in the regular season finale.
Comets Blaze by Cards
WINLOCK — An eight run first inning set the tone here on Tuesday as Naselle downed the Cardinals 14-3 in a five inning non-league baseball game.
The Comets held Winlock to five hits on the day and five Cardinal errors greased the wheels for a big win by the visitors.
Jimmy Strange, Ethan Lindstrom and Daniel Holt each had three hits for Naselle. Clay Bergeson pitched all five innings for the win.
Zach Prue started the game for Winlock but was unable to finish an inning due to a combination of four bases on balls and three errors. Conor Gilreath took over for Prue before ceding to Lukis Tamburello in the fourth inning. Tamburello struck out four batters in 1 ⅔ innings of work.
Nathan Suhrbier continued to swing a hot stick for the Cardinals with a RBI double and a walk on the day. Kaden Harrington, Tamburello, Prue, and Gilreath each added a hit for Winlock.
“We just made too many mistakes to hang with a team of that caliber,” said Winlock coach Jordan Nailon. “Tomorrow we’ll see if we can put it all together again. Or at least make some new mistakes.”
Winlock (2-12) will host Oakville on Wednesday at 4 p.m. for a non-league game.
