NAPAVINE – There was plenty of rain that poured all over the baseball diamond at Napavine High School.
Toledo’s Gavin Frewing brought the thunder and the rest of the offense added the lightning.
Frewing belted two home runs as part of a three-hit day at the plate and 15 total hits ignited the Riverhawks to a dominant 9-0 win over Pe Ell/Willapa Valley in a Class 2B District 4 elimination game on Tuesday night.
“We haven’t had this kind of offensive output against a good team,” Toledo head coach Mack Gaul said. “That was good to see.”
It was a rematch from a non-league game over a month ago that the Riverhawks (14-10) triumphed 5-3. That game, Frewing notched three hits and got the start on the bump, tossing three innings.
The infielder wrecked havoc all day.
He launched an inside pitch from PWV’s all-league arm Connor Keeton as the opener of a three-run third to give Toledo a 4-0 cushion. Then in the sixth, Frewing left no doubt for his second long ball, a three-run shot that put the game out of reach.
“I was just thinking away, away, away,” Frewing said. “When I got the inside pitch, I just turned on them. I’m a pull hitter and I have the weight, power to do it.”
Frewing had two home runs entering the loser-out game. He’s roped a handful of doubles in the process, showing off his power that way.
“He’s had a couple close ones and all those doubles were (at the) base of the wall,” Gaul said. “He’s improved so much over the summer.”
Rain delayed the initial start time of 1 p.m., then another cell splattered the field after 1:30. As the field was getting re-prepped once again, another batch of rain dropped down 30 minutes later.
Over 90 minutes from the original scheduled first pitch and a conversation with both coaches and the umpires, the game was underway. Both sides battled two more stints of rain during the contest.
Titans (16-6) assistant coach Mike Green felt the constant delays threw Keeton off a bit.
“It didn’t help warming up four different times before the game,” Green said.
The Riverhawks’ game plan was to see the slow, outside pitches and time it up. If Keeton ran inside, they attacked. Four different batters recorded three hits and three drove in at least two runs.
Toledo added two more runs in the top of the seventh to cap off the win.
“Take the ball to right field,” Gaul said. “Great at-bats.”
Rogan Stanley tossed five innings on the mound for the Riverhawks, striking out seven and allowing just three hits. The right-hander stranded the bases loaded in the bottom of the first to keep the game scoreless.
Stanley plus Caiden Schultz combined to strike out 13 PWV hitters.
“We couldn’t get anything going at all, simple as that,” Green said. “We didn’t bring the sticks today. I don’t know what else to say.”
The Titans lose just two seniors – Blake Howard and Aiden Young – as most of the nucleus from a three-way tie for the P2BL title is expected back next spring. Which leads Green to think the 2025 season may be extended.
“We’re going to bring it, I guarantee it,” he said. “We've got a lot of sophomores and freshmen that play and got some solid eighth graders too.”
Toledo will get another crack at Napavine in a game that sends the winner to state. The Riverhawks were swept 4-1 and 3-2 back in March. Since then, they’ve won 14 of their last 20 games.
“We (have) to keep the same mindset and mentality,” Frewing said. “We’ve been together since we were six and seven (years old) and it just stuck with us.”
