Wednesday's 2A Baseball: White, Jones Star in Bearcats’ Sweep

In a typical doubleheader, Brandon White’s opening-game performance would have been the headliner.

The Bearcat senior struck out 13 without a hit or a walk in six innings of work, with at least a half-dozen pro scouts aiming radar guns at his powerful right arm in an 8-1 win over Tumwater in Chehalis.

By the end of Wednesday’s far-from-typical doubleheader, though, White’s impressive outing was overshadowed by a raucous 10-inning nightcap and the emergence of Brock Jones.

Jones, who has pitched only sparingly this season, struck out all 11 batters he faced over the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth innings as W.F. West picked up a curious 5-2 extra-innings win to complete the sweep and stay undefeated in Evergreen 2A Conference play.

The Bearcats (9-2, 7-0 league) host Rochester on Thursday.

Game 1: White Dominates Tumwater in 8-1 Win

Brandon White was locked in and Tumwater didn’t have an answer.

White, W.F. West’s 6-foot-8 Washington State University-bound right-hander, struck out 13 in six innings of work on an efficient 86 pitches on Wednesday to lead the Bearcats in an 8-1 win over Tumwater.

He retired the first 10 batters he faced before Shea Bowen reached first on a bobbled ground ball to shortstop. White then struck out the next two batters on a total of seven pitches to end the fourth inning.

“Brandon has continued to get stronger and stronger as the season’s gone on,” Bearcat coach Bryan Bullock said. “I thought today was actually probably his best outing. We were able to throw more of his changeups, he did a nice job of commanding the strike zone, and he was real efficient. He looked really good.”

Tumwater’s lone run came in the seventh inning, on an RBI double from Griffen Noice — the Thunderbirds’ only hit of the game — after White had been removed.

The Bearcats, meanwhile, scored four runs in the third innings and never looked back. Nole Wollan hit a two-run single and four walks, a hit batter and an error helped keep the inning going.

Wollan finished 2 for 3 with three RBIs, Max Miller and Tyson Guerrero both hit doubles, Brock Jones drove in two runs with a double and Dakota Hawkins added an RBI single.

Game 2: Jones Stars in Wild Nightcap Win

Brock Jones hadn’t pitched in a few weeks, but by the time he got the call in the seventh inning he was ready. That much was evident to anyone who stuck around for all five hours of action Wednesday night in Chehalis.

“Tyson (Guerrero) and Brandon (White) have ate up so many innings this year that Brock just hasn’t had an opportunity to throw,” Bearcat coach Bryan Bullock explained, adding with a laugh, “but our guys don’t want to face him in practice.”

The junior lefthander moved from right field to the pitcher’s mound after Tumwater’s Reid Little doubled to left, representing the tying run in what was, at that point, a 2-1 game with the Bearcats in the lead.

Reid’s pinch runner Dylan Grotte then stole third base. Shortly thereafter Jones was called for a balk, which tied the game at 2-2.

That call prompted assistant coach Jason Kelley — acting as third-base coach, with Bullock relegated to the dugout by the same umpire — to quickly become the second Bearcat assistant coach thrown out of the game.

This year’s revised balk rule, Bullock said, has been a highly debated topic.

“It’s just in the stance of a pitcher, so it’s a judgement call,” he said. “In that situation, obviously, our coaching staff didn’t feel like that was a good call at the time.”

It’s safe to say it got Jones’ competitive juices flowing.

“That’s probably the hardest I’ve ever thrown,” Jones said. “We’ve always been a rival with Tumwater, so getting tied when we beat them the first game really got some fire going.”

Jones struck out the first two batters he faced, then struck out the third, only to have the runner reach base on a dropped third strike. Undeterred, Jones fanned Tumwater cleanup hitter Landen Jordan on four pitches to end the seventh inning and send the game to extras.

Jones then struck out the side in the eighth. And the ninth.

And, after being shut out since the second inning, the Bearcat bats woke up in the top of the tenth. Dakota Hawkins singled to right field, and three batters later freshman catcher Drew Reynolds hit an RBI double down the right field line.

Max Miller then knocked in two runs with a single, and W.F. West had a three-run lead to work with in the bottom of the 10th inning.

Jones fanned the first batter in the 10th and had a 2-2 count on the second batter before Tyson Guerrero — the reigning EvCo MVP — was brought in for pitch-count purposes to get the final two outs.

Bullock said it was one of the strangest games he’s coached.

“Obviously all the distractions that transpired kinda take away a little bit of the flair of the kids competing tonight in the second game,” said Bullock, who was tossed in the eighth inning. “We haven’t had a lot of close games or been tested a lot. We didn’t swing the bats like we’re capable of at times, but the kids really responded, though, with kids stepping up on the mound.”

Daniel Fagerness started on the mound and worked into the fifth inning, giving up one run and four hits while striking out three. Gabe O’Neil took over in the fifth and got out of a bases-loaded jam with two straight strikeouts before Jones made his dynamic appearance in the seventh.

“I was really accurate, and that’s been a struggle for me this season,” Jones said. “I’ve always had the velocity, but the accuracy was really on point today.”

Guerrero went 2 for 5 with an RBI and Hawkins was 2 for 4 for W.F. West.

Centralia Sweeps Aberdeen

ABERDEEN — The Tigers left Grays Harbor with a pair of Evergreen 2A Conference wins here Wednesday, sweeping Aberdeen 11-3 and 12-2.

Kolby Sharp hit a two-run homer in the first inning of Game 1 and went 2 for 5, and the Tigers piled up 13 hits in the win.

Broc Selstrom got the win on the mound, striking out 10 and walking three in five innings and retiring the last seven batters he faced.

Jeremy Wood and Conner Wasson were each 2 for 5 with an RBI, and Nolan Miller was 3 for 4 with an RBI.

Game 2 was more of the same, with Wood tossing a five-inning complete game and striking out eight with three walks and one hit.

“He struggled a little bit with his command, but he came up with some big pitches, especially early, to get out of a couple jams,” Tiger coach Rex Ashmore said.

Wood and Nick Stulken were each 2 for 3 with two RBIs. Sharp was 2 for 4 and drove in a run, Nolan Miller went 3 for 3 with two RBIs and Wasson had a hit and drove in two runs.

Miller, Wasson and Wood were all active on the basepaths and wreaked a bit of havoc on the Bobcats, Ashmore said.

“They’re our three guys that can run a little bit,” he said. “They were on base all day and it helps us immensely when those three are doing what they did today.”

Centralia (8-3, 6-0 league) plays at Tumwater on Thursday.

Warriors Fall to Wolves

ROCHESTER — Cole Wintrip pitched six solid innings for the Warriors, but it wasn’t enough as Black Hills won 6-3 in an Evergreen 2A Conference baseball game here on Wednesday.

Wintrip had six strikeouts in the loss.

“He did a good job of keeping us in the ball game just like he’s done all year long,” Rochester coach Brad Quarnstrom said.

At the plate, Jared WInters was 2 for 4 with a double and Ethan Worden added two hits for the Warriors.

Rochester took a 2-1 lead after three innings, but Black Hills tied the game in the fourth and added two runs in the fifth and seventh innings to secure the win.

“We had eight hits on the day, which isn’t a bad number if you can get them at the right time. We’ve got to find a way to come up with a clutch base hit,” Quarnstrom said. “We had bases loaded in the sixth, We’ve got to have that clutch base hit.”

Rochester (3-6, 0-6) travels to Chehalis on Thursday to face the Bearcats in a EvCo game.