Some sloppy fielding and a lack of timely hitting led to Columbia High losing both games of last Saturday's non-league double-header to visiting Rochester.
The contests made up a two-game series scheduled for March 10-11 that was postpone due to severe winter weather in White Salmon.
But neither a nearly perfect late-winter afternoon nor the home field advantage helped the Bruins (1-2), who lost 15-7 and 8-0.
They led the opener 7-1 after three innings but couldn't put the Warriors away.
After scoring six of their runs in their first at-bat--all after two were out--the Bruins' bats fell silent after the third frame.
CHS's first run scored on an infield error and the second came in on a bases-loaded walk.
Rees Stevenson followed with a two-run double into the gap between right and center fields and No. 9 hitter Taylor Champion capped the rally with a two-run single.
The uprising staked starting pitcher Jared McDonald (0-1) to a 6-1 lead that CHS added to in the home half of the third.
But Rochester hung in there, tagging the CHS right-hander for four runs in the fourth (thanks to three hits and three White Salmon errors) and three more in the fifth to take an 8-7 edge.
Rochester then pushed five runs across home plate in the sixth with five hits and tacked on two in the seventh--all off Champion, who relieved McDonald to start the sixth.
The Warriors finished with 14 hits but only seven of their 15 runs were earned because of five CHS errors. The Bruins ended up with six hits, two by No. 2 hitter David Giron, but struck out nine times.
"After we got that 7-1 lead, I think we kind of coasted," Bruins Coach Larry McCutcheon said. "We lost our focus and stopped competing, and we can't do that when we have a team on the ropes. We've got to get better at that."
Columbia never led in the nightcap, though it put runners in scoring position in the second, third and fourth innings against Rochester left-hander Brian Riffe.
Each time, however, Riffe was able to work out of a jam, keeping the Bruins off-balance by changing speeds with his assortment of pitches.
Still, it was only 2-0 into the fifth inning as CHS southpaw Daniel Giron (1-1) did his best to keep the Bruins close.
The only mistake he threw was a hanger in the fifth that ended up over the center field fence for a home run and a 3-0 Rochester lead.
Another CHS defensive letdown in the sixth helped the Warriors stretch their lead to 5-0.
Riffe took it from there, shutting out the Bruins the rest of the way while limiting them to one baserunner from the fifth on. All told, Riffe allowed six hits, struck out 10 and walked one.
Riffe's defense bailed him out on one occasion. In the third, with runners on second and third, Daniel Giron smacked a long ball deep to left-center field that Rochester's center fielder did a full-body layout to catch and kill a CHS scoring chance.
An inning earlier, Nick Reeves, who'd led off with a triple, was thrown out at home by Riffe on a fielder's choice dribbler down the first base line. In the fourth, CHS had a runner on third with one out, to no avail.
"We had some good chances to make things difficult for him (Riffe)," McCutcheon said, "but the hits didn't come when we needed them."
At Columbia High 12, Corbett, Ore. 2:
The Bruins opened their 2006 season March 14 with a six-inning victory over the Cardinals.
Columbia batsmen delivered 10 hits in support of pitchers Jared McDonald and Daniel Giron (1-0), who combined on a six-hitter.
McDonald and David Giron each had two hits and scored a pair of runs.
Taylor Champion was the top run producer with three runs batted in. Greg Tellez and Nick Reeves drove in two each.
"We played very good, solid baseball, offensively and defensively," Bruins Coach Larry McCutcheon said. "When we got people on base in scoring position, we hit the ball and brought them home."
Corbett didn't help its cause, however. The Cardinals' offense put just eight runners on base (they stranded five) and their defense made eight errors.
The Bruins went ahead to stay in the third, scoring twice. Their biggest inning was the sixth when they notched four runs.
"It was good to finally get a game in so our pitchers could get some work," McCutcheon said. "We were getting pretty sick and tired of being cooped up in the gym (because of rain). And I think we showed that when we come to play, we are a pretty good ball club."
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