Playing in a must-win, loser-out 2B District 4 consolation quarterfinal, the Napavine baseball team kept its season going with a 16-9 win over Forks Tuesday afternoon at its home ballpark.
The Tigers (14-6-1) plated six runs in the top of the first inning as the designated road team, and gave up a 3-spot in the bottom of the inning to see its lead cut in half. Though the Tigers would hang on to that lead for the rest of the game, it got tenuous at times.
The Spartans brought the deficit all the way down to one after four runs in the fifth, before the Tigers put five more insurance runs on the board to separate for good in the top of the seventh.
The win means the Tigers will play a loser-out, winner-to-state game against rival Adna Friday at 2 p.m.
Cal Bullock got the start on the bump and threw four innings, allowing seven runs with five earned on four hits and six walks with three strikeouts. Hudson Chambers closed the game, pitching the final nine outs, allowing just one hit with five punchouts out of the pen.
Ashton Demarest went 2 for 3 at the dish with three runs scored, an RBI with a double, and two walks drawn. Lane Mitchell went 2 for 4 with two runs scored and three RBIs, and Beckett Landram went 3 for 5 with three RBIs.
