Ignited by all runs in the final two innings, the Centralia College baseball team picked up an 11-1 triumph over Clackamas in an NWAC crossover doubleheader on Friday at Bob Peters Field. The Cougars salvaged the split with a 3-2 victory in the nightcap.
At 22-24 overall and 11-9 in the NWAC West Region, Centralia sits a game up on Pierce, two ahead of Clark and three in front of Olympic heading into the final four games of the regular season. The Trailblazers end the season against Tacoma, second in the division. They could either be the two, three, four seeds or miss the tournament entirely.
Asher Guerrero capped the five-run eighth with a three-run home run. Four of the six runs in the ninth came on bases loaded walks. Hudson Normand fired eight innings and recorded five strikeouts. Centralia won by double digits despite striking out 14 times and leaving 10 runners on base.
The nightcap featured a Clackamas walk-off in the bottom of the ninth, an RBI single by Eiji Sato. Centralia’s Nolan Christ roped an RBI triple in the third to put it up 1-0 and Mitchell Rowe tied the game at two with a run-scoring single in the eighth.
Saturday’s doubleheader was against Pacific’s JV team and the Trailblazers split that as well, losing the opener 2-0 and taking the nightcap 10-6. They grabbed an early 2-0 cushion and added to the lead with three in the sixth and a five-spot in the seventh.
Avery Staloch went 4-for-4 with five RBIs, notching nearly half of Centralia’s total in both. Chase Olsen launched a home run in the seventh and Sam Matosich added two hits. Lincoln McVicker went four innings, allowed two hits and struck out seven.
Both of Pacific’s runs in Game 1 came in the third, both unearned against Centralia’s Liam Karlson. The Trailblazers had three errors and Isaiah Anzaldua recorded more than one hit.
