The Centralia College baseball team met the NWAC’s measuring stick over the weekend and found out how far it had to go, falling to Tacoma College four times: 9-7 and 7-2 in Pierce County on Saturday and 7-0 and 5-1 in the Hub City on Sunday.
The Blazers led the Titans — who were ranked No. 1 in the latest NWAC coaches’ poll and have spent time in the national JuCo top-25 rankings — early in both of their Saturday contests, but lost Game 1 after giving up a four-spot in the bottom of the eighth, and Game 2 after allowing four in the fourth.
Sunday saw Tacoma’s pitching staff exert its will, shutting the Blazers out for 15 innings before Centralia finally got on the board in the bottom of the seventh in the second game. Centralia managed just 18 hits across the four games, and Casen Taggart’s double in the last was the only extra-base knock all weekend.
Camdyn Martindale had the best outing on the hill for the Blazers, giving up just three hits and one run in six innings in the first game in Centralia on Sunday; the only problem was that he had come in as early relief, after the Titans sprung for five against Garrett Holpuch in the first.
The losses drop CC down to fifth place in the NWAC West, with a conference record of 7-9. The Blazers would need to overtake Clark — which is currently 12-8 — for fourth place in order to make the postseason.
Centralia has eight games left to make its surge, starting off with four against last-place Olympic. Just about needing a sweep, the Blazers will open with two games against the Rangers in Bremerton next Saturday, before hosting them twice Sunday.
The week after, CC will wrap up its regular season with a crucial series against Lower Columbia, while Clark will return from a week off from conference play with four games against Tacoma.
