Fueled by early offense and taking advantage of errors, the RBI Dirtbags secured a shootout win over the Clark County Mavericks 12-11 on Thursday at Castle Rock High School. Then on Friday, the Dirtbags pummeled the Centralia Jungle Cats 16-4 in seven innings.
Against Clark County, a six-run bottom of the second gave RBI an early margin only for it to be wiped away thanks to a four-run top of the third.
Knotted at seven midway through the nine-inning contest, the Dirtbags took the lead for good with a three-run bottom of fifth and added two vital insurance runs in the sixth.
Toledo’s Gavin Frewing struck out four in three innings on the mound, but allowed six earned runs. Pe Ell’s Blake Howard roped a triple, scored twice and drove in a run.
“Thankfully we ran the bases better today because we needed every one of those runs by the end,” RBI pitching coach Nayt Taylor said. “We barreled a few baseballs today in big spots.”
Against Centralia, the Dirtbags erupted for 11 runs in the first three innings and busted out 12 hits. Rochester’s Tre Groninger struck out 10 hitters and allowed seven hits to earn the win.
Howard drove in three runs on two hits as eight different hitters plated at least one run.
“It was nice to see our bats stay hot,” RBI head coach Jody Nailon said.
RBI will turn its attention to the senior Babe Ruth 18U state tournament at Rister Stadium in Kelso. The Dirtbags will face Prosser in the first round on Thursday.
