Every player that crossed home plate and every player responsible for the run, they were greeted by a frenzy of cheers in the dugout.
An average viewer wouldn’t have known it was not only a non-league game, but the regular season finale if they glanced towards the Tenino High School baseball team.
“We think of it as a playoff game going into it,” senior star Jack Burkhardt said.
And if Wednesday night was an indication of the postseason, strap in.
The Beavers put up 10 unanswered runs to erase a two-run deficit and came away with a 10-2 victory over Adna at Bob Peters Field on the campus of Centralia College. They end up being the lone squad to beat the Pirates this spring.
Now, Tenino (16-5) takes a three-game winning streak into the quarterfinals of the Class 1A District 4 tournament against King’s Way Christian, the third seed out of the Trico League, on Monday in Hoquiam.
“We knew Adna was a really good squad and we felt like we needed to get right,” Beavers head coach Ryan Schlesser said. “This is a playoff game. It was a dogfight; it was a good game.”
For a senior class that missed state in football and basketball so far, they are trying to get back to Bellingham for the second straight season. They’ve been with each other since their youths and the time playing together is nearing an end.
Yet with how much experience they have in big moments, they're hopeful it’s not a short journey.
“Once we get the bats going, we’re a scary team,” Burkhardt said.
The top-four in Tenino’s lineup – Will Feltus, Hunter Sweet, Austin Gonia and Burkhardt – have a knack for getting on base multiple times. Feltus drew three walks while the others combined for five of its eight hits.
Add in the element of swiping a base, they rarely get a red light.
Gonia recorded two stolen bases and the others, one.
“Over 50 percent of our stolen bags have the green light,” Schlesser said.
All 10 of the Beavers runs came in the fifth and sixth innings. They tied it on a sacrifice fly by Gonia, grabbed the lead for good on a Burkhardt RBI single. Wild pitches by Danner Hoinowski added to Tenino’s fifth inning tally.
In the sixth, Gonia poked a single through to drive in two. Small ball aided Tenino, an element that has continued to evolve as the season’s gone on.
“It hasn’t fazed us as much as years previous,” Schlesser said. “We’ve started pressing the issue. That’s our bread and butter.”
Adna (19-1) was doomed by three errors and four wild pitches. Hoinowski, Cameron Nakano and Beau Miller totaled 141 pitches and well over half were called a ball.
“Had a couple innings get away from us,” Pirates head coach Jake Overbay said.
It took until the fourth inning after a pitcher’s duel between Burkhardt and Nakano was on display. After Adna tagged out a runner that left the base too early on a deep play, it turned that into a 1-0 lead and the bases were loaded.
Burkhardt left them loaded and Adna didn’t capitalize.
“That’s been our challenge as of late,” Overbay said. “Just the execution and being a little more aggressive.”
“To weasel his way out of there, it shows resiliency," Schlesser said.
Hoinowski and Miller each recorded two hits for the Pirates, who open the Class 2B District 4 tournament at No. 1, will face either Mossyrock or Raymond/South Bend on Saturday.
Overbay feels this loss will serve a bigger purpose come the playoffs.
“It always stinks to lose, but it came at a great time,” he said. “It is a good wakeup call when we needed it the most.”
District 4 has five spots up for grabs instead of three like the last couple of years. Tenino will have to go through league champ Montesano and a trifecta of Trico teams. The Beavers wouldn’t want it any other way.
“If we just play our game, we’ll be (in) close games the whole time” Burkhardt said.
