Columbia High's baseball team had to make two trips in four days to Castle Rock to complete what was supposed to be a routine Trico League double-header.
The Bruins lost the set's first game 3-2 on Friday but had a 3-1 lead early in the second, only to have it scratched from the books by a hailstorm.
So it was back on the bus Monday for a return trip to Castle Rock, for the third and final meetÿing of the season between the two.
And the Bruins (6-3, 7-3) made the long ride well worth their time and effort by handing the Rockets their first defeat this spring, by a score of 6-4 -- and, in so doing, avoiding an ignominious trifecta.
Bruins Coach Larry McCutcheon said Columbia didn't want to go all that way and come home with an 0-3 record in the season series.
"Castle Rock is a team that can be beat, but you have to force them to make plays," he noted. "We didn't do that in the two games we lost. We did in the one we won."
And the Bruins earned it.
They spotted the Rockets a 4-0 lead after two innings. Castle Rock shelled CHS junior Chris Peck for six hits in the first inning and a third, including a lead-off solo
home run in the bottom of the second by Kyle Wheeler.
With one gone in the home half of the second, and runners on second and third, McCutcheon went to sophomore Eric Crause to put the fire out.
Crause responded, striking out the first batter he faced and getting the next to ground out to short to end the uprising.
From then on, Crause defused the Rockets, holding them to one hit -- a single in the seventh -- to pick up his second win.
The right-hander finished with seven strikeouts (two each in the third, fifth and sixth innings) and didn't walk a batter, though he hit three. But no Castle Rock runner got farther than second base.
"We got an incredibly well-pitched game from Eric," McCutÿcheon remarked. "They only hit one ball out of the infield against him."
While Crause was shutting down the Rockets, the Bruins were strugÿgling at the plate.
They didn't have a hit in the first three innings and scored their first run on a fielder's choice to second base by freshman Brandon Verley.
He knocked in junior Bryan Charters, who scored all the way from second on the play.
"That was just heads-up running by Bryan. They took their time fielding the ball and Bryan never slowed down as he rounded third," McCutcheon noted.
By the fourth inning, the Bruins had figured out David Yeager, Casÿtle Rock's No.-1 starter, and started to make some serious contact.
Run-scoring singles by junior Adam Hogberg and senior Austin Nielsen closed the deficit to 4-3.
In the fifth, Columbia got a lead-off double from junior Paul Courtÿney, an RBI double by Verley and a run-producing single from senior
Zach Clifford to take a 5-4 lead.
Senior Josh Billette led off the sixth with a single and eventually scored a vital insurance run, trotting home from third on Verley's sacriÿfice fly to left field.
On Friday, Columbia had the tying run 90 feet away from home with one away in the top of the seventh of a 3-2 ballgame.
Charters led off the visitors' half of the seventh, drawing a full-count base on balls. He took second on Rockets hurler Josef Von Dracek's errant pick-off, and stole third.
But that's as far as Charters got as Von Dracek retired the next three hitters on a strikeout, a pop out to second and a grounder to short, to close things out.
"We didn't do a good job of putting the ball in play when we had runners in scoring position," McCutcheon said, adding, "And when you strike out as many times as we did (10), it's hard to make the other team beat you."
The Bruins connected for just four hits off Von Dracek -- two by Verley (an RBI single in the third and a run-scoring double in the fifth) to account for CHS' scoring.
In the fourth, sixth and seventh innings, Columbia got the lead-off man on and into scoring position but couldn't get him home.
CHS' inability to score squanÿdered a strong pitching perforÿmance by Nielsen (1-1), who limitÿed Castle Rock to five hits in six innings of work.
Nielsen gained his first win of the season on April 10, throwing the first three innings of a 6-0 shutout of non-league opponent Wahtonka, in The Dalles.
Senior Zach Clifford swung a solid bat, going 2 for 3 with two runs batted in. He also stole two bases. Verley went 2 for 2, with two steals and three runs scored.
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