The Rochester baseball team had little trouble in the pigtail game of the 2A District 4 Tournament on Saturday, as the Warriors dominated Washougal to the tune of a 14-3 five-inning victory.
“I liked our focus and intensity from the get-go,” Rochester coach Brad Quarnstrom said. “They didn’t have that nervous feel at all, and it showed.”
The Warriors (12-8) drew five walks in the opening frame and brought home two runs, and they drew two more walks to get two on in the top of the second.
Tate Quarnstrom brought home one on an RBI double, Hayden Pietras drove another in on a sac fly, and Kole Smith doubled to make it a 5-0 game.
The Panthers were able to score in the next two innings, but Rochester matched with three of their own and broke the game open with six in the fifth.
Henry Gramelspacher went the first three innings on the bump, and Mason Ubias sealed the deal by tossing two shutout innings out of the pen.
Eight different Warriors recorded a hit, and seven drove in at least one run. Ethan Rodriguez, Quarnstrom, and Smith each collected two hits. The Warriors continued to draw walks throughout the rest of the game as well, reaching first on a free pass 11 times.
“We hit the ball extremely well today throughout the lineup,” Quarnstrom said. “Hopefully it gives our guys some confidence going into next week and we can keep things rolling.”
The Warriors are through to the double-elimination part of the district tournament, and they’ll head to Ridgefield for a quarterfinal on Tuesday.
