The Centralia College baseball team had a big ask in front of it going into the weekend, needing multiple wins against Lower Columbia to make the NWAC postseason, but the Blazers went down quietly instead, losing 8-3 and 5-0 at home Friday and 10-0 and 1-0 in Longview on Saturday in a sweep that knocked them out and gave the Red Devils the NWAC West crown.
In the bottom of the second inning of Game 1 on Friday, Centralia loaded the bases on a single, a walk, and a wild pitch, and Casen Taggart hit a 2-RBI double to make it 6-3. Those ended up being CC’s final runs of the weekend; LCC’s pitchers finished the weekend by putting up 28 straight shutout frames.
That included a second game Friday that was seven innings by design, followed by an opener Saturday that lasted seven innings thanks to the run rule. The cruelest fate came in the season finale — which was scheduled to last seven frames — when Garrett Hames tossed seven shutout, only to lose it in extra innings on a walk-off wild pitch.
CC ends its season in fifth place in the NWAC West with a division record of 9-15, and an overall mark of 26-24.
