The Centralia College baseball team took a pair of home games Saturday against Shoreline, beating the Dolphins 7-3 and 10-2 in the Hub City.
The Blazers were scheduled to play two more at Shoreline Sunday, and got four innings into the first game, but weather and field issues ended that game before it could become official, and canceled the second before it could start.
Saturday, the Blazers put runs up in eight of their 16 frames at the plate, banging out 22 hits over the course of the day.
Casen Taggart led the way with the bat, going 5 for 7 with a home run, a double, and three RBIs. Sixteen games into the season, his four bombs and 19 RBIs lead the NWAC, and those numbers could have been at least five and 20, respectively, after he left the yard again Sunday before the game was nixed.
Tony Groninger added four hits and three RBIs, including a 3-for-5 outing in Game 2 on Saturday, and Bennett Comes also had three hits.
Pacing the way on the other side of things, the Blazers got through Saturday quickly thanks to two clutch starts. Justin Morgan started the day off with an eight-inning outing, allowing three runs on three hits and striking out 10. In Game 2, Ian Bauer didn’t quite match Morgan for punchouts, but was even stingier, giving up one unearned run on a walk and two knocks.
Centralia was off to a rougher start Sunday, allowing a pair of four-spots that put them in an 8-4 hole before the game was called. According to the Blazers’ social media accounts, the Sunday games will not be rescheduled.
The Blazers are slated to cross the pass this week, playing a pair at Yakima Valley on Wednesday.
