One weekend into the baseball season, and Centralia College’s new field is already paying massive dividends.
The Blazers were set to open the season with a home doubleheader Saturday, and a doubleheader at Skagit Valley on Sunday. But weather made the dirt field up in Mount Vernon unplayable, so Monday, the Blazers and Cardinals were right back on CC’s campus, breaking in the new surface with two extra games — which Centralia swept 6-5 and 13-7.
Such is the benefit of turf in Washington — one the Blazers have seen ever since the field opened in January.
“It’s awesome,” head coach Ben Harley said. “It’s been a huge benefit. We’ve been able to get outside and practice a bunch. We’re way ahead of where we normally are in a season at this point.”
Harley, in his fourth year coaching the Blazers, said the new field was something he’d been looking forward to ever since he took the job at CC. And in the past year, watching the complex spring up, a bit at a time, has reinvigorated the entire program, helping with recruitment and retention.
And now that it’s here, the days of players having to drive across town are over, with an on-campus field waiting for them every day that’s truly theirs.
“It feels like it’s their home,” Harley said. “We’re actually on campus, they can come straight from class, go to the weight room, go to the field. That really changes things.”
That’s not all that’s changed. As the Blazers and Cardinals found out Monday, the new complex might as well be called the Centralia Launchpad, with winds blowing steadily out to left field the entire day, and gusts going out to center and right at times as well.
Centralia hit four home runs as a team all of last season. The Blazers matched that Monday, with Casen Taggart leaving the yard twice and River Terry and Tyler Harries opening their accounts as well.
But the long ball was just part of the offensive explosion that the Blazers started the season with, logging 30 runs in four games against the Cardinals. Monday, Centralia put up five crooked numbers.
It’s a good start for first-year hitting coach Dan Bower, who comes across the country from Akron University to coach up Centralia’s sticks.
“He’s done a good job,” Harley said. “The past six months he’s been grinding with those guys every day.”
Freshman Braize Mitchell led the way across the weekend for the Blazers, going 8 for 18 in his first dose of college ball.
Taggart, who’s already committed to play at Washington State next year, racked up nine RBIs, including four on a grand slam in the second game Monday. He finished his opening weekend with two two home runs, a triple, and a double, with six walks already.
“He’s a very mature player,” Harley said. “I’m glad he’s on our team, and I’m excited to see what he can do the rest of the year.”
The pitching side of things is a bit more of a work in progress, with Skagit Valley putting up at least five runs in all four games. But starting four true freshmen — and throwing 11 out on the mound in total — Harley expected a few growing pains.
“They need more weekends like this where they can battle through situations,” he said. “They’re true freshmen, a lot of them; they’ve got to go out and do it, actually play the games.”
That ongoing work reflects the new field as well. There’s still additions to be made to the complex, highlighted be three towering posts in left field still awaiting the 36-by-22 scoreboard they’ll hold up, due to arrive in March. Beyond that, the college has plans to expand seating beyond the two sets of tiny bleachers, hoping to turn its home into a destination for baseball in Southwest Washington.
But it’s a start. And as of this weekend, it’s a start with tangible results, which is even better.
“It’s been a fun process to be a part of, and the boys got excited when they saw the process, too,” Harley said. “It’s really helped recruitment; a lot of guys want to come play here now, which is nice.”
