I-5 Toyota Mountain Dew got to return to Wheeler Field for the first time in a few weeks, and while it was a little late for the Fourth of July, the Dewers brought out an explosive barrage, hammering 30 hits across 12 innings in a doubleheader sweep of Lakeside Recovery.
“It’s been nice to get back out and swing the bats, and we really swung the bats,” I-5 coach Bryan Bullock said.
The Dewers began their evening with four straight big innings in a 19-3 Game 1 demolition. It started with six runs in the first, before the hosts added two in the second, five in the third, and four more in the fourth for good measure, racking up 18 knocks.
“We really came out and were aggressive and turned around the fastball today,” Bullock said.
Weston Potter (W.F. West) went 3 for 3 with a pair of doubles, a triple, and five RBIs, and right behind him in the order, Ashton Demarest (Napavine) went 3 for 4 with two RBIs.
Ross Kelley (W.F. West), Alex Stafford (W.F. West), Conner Holmes (Napavine), and Cal Bullock (Napavine) all added two knocks, but it was Centralia’s Brady Sprague who had the loudest hit of the game, blasting a two-run bomb that cleared the wall in left field by a good 20 feet.
“He’s had that capability,” Bryan Bullock said. “It’s a good time for him to swing the bat the way we know he can.”
Sprague went on to lead the way in Game 2 — which I-5 Toyota won 9-2 — with a 3-for-3 outing, hitting a triple and driving in two runs. Tate Quarnstrom (Rochester) and Carlos Vallejo (Centralia) both went 2 for 3 with doubles, and Miles Martin (W.F. West) hit one out of Wheeler Field as part of a 2-for-2 line.
Martin tossed a shortened complete game in the first contest,striking out three and working around five walks and four hits. In Game 2, Connor Coleman (W.F. West) and Bullock split the seven innings, each allowing just one hit on one run.