Fueled by 16 hits and the majority of its runs in the middle frames, Rainier High School’s baseball team handled Onalaska 8-3 in a C2BL triumph on Monday night in Onalaska.
Trailing by a run after three complete innings, the Mountaineers struck for three in the top of the fourth and piled on with two runs in the fifth and a run apiece in the sixth and seventh. Back-to-back RBI singles in the fourth from Kaymen Larman and Skylar Weschler gave them the lead for good.
“They started hitting the ball pretty well,” Onalaska coach Weylin Womack said.
Hunter Howell capped the offensive outburst with an RBI triple that ended his night which also featured an 11-strikeout night on the mound. Howell went five innings and allowed two hits, two runs and three walks, but held the Loggers at bay from the second inning onward.
Onalaska brought in two runs in the first on an RBI single from Beau Bond and Tuff Lyons crossed home on a passed ball. It added another run in the sixth as Kramer paced the bats with two hits.
“One of those ones where you feel right in it, and then it just kind of slips away,” Womack said.
Peyton Sheaffer and Weschler notched three hits apiece and Rainier’s top-three hitters in the lineup combined for six hits – two of them for extra bases – and three RBIs.
The two sides will meet again on Tuesday. Rainier will take on Wahkiakum starting on Friday and Onalaska will battle against Napavine.
