Rainier charged late for the second straight day, but the Napavine baseball team once again held the Mountaineers off, earning a 6-5 win in both teams’ Central 2B League play finales.
Napavine led by six midway through the fifth inning, before Rainier came back with two in the bottom half of the frame, and made it 6-3 in the sixth. Connor Holmes got two quick outs in the bottom of the seventh, but a single and a walk put runners on, and Sam Watkins and Gavin Owen hit back-to-back RBI singles.
That cut it the deficit to one and put the tying run in scoring position, but Holmes got the final out to nab the stressful save.
Ashton Demarest earned the win for the Tigers after going 5 ⅔ innings and striking out eight.
Gavin Owen went 3 ⅓ for the Mountaineers but struggled a bit with command, walking nine. Dayton Gardner took the hill in the middle of Napavine’s four-run fourth and proceeded to shut the Tigers down, allowing just two hits in 3 ⅔ innings of relief.
Johnny Boesch led all hitters with a 3-for-4 day at the play. Holmes went 2 for 3 at the top of the Napavine lineup, also drawing a pair of walks.
Both the Tigers and Mountaineers are set to wrap up their regular seasons next week against non-league opponents. Napavine will host 1A Elma on Wednesday, while Rainier will take on 1B Mossyrock on Friday.
