Columbia High needed one more out in Monday's loser-out SW Washington 2A baseball playoff game to defeat Hoquiam and clinch a spot in this week's District 4 Tournament in Centralia.
Instead, the Grizzlies (8-9) turned the tables on the Bruins, scoring four runs with two out in the top of the seventh to take the lead on their way to a 7-4 victory.
Columbia (11-8) took a 4-3 lead into the seventh and had sophomore right-hander Jon Bryan working his third inning in relief of senior starter Eric Crause.
In the sixth, Bryan faced four batters and struck out two of them.
But the Grizzlies' lead-off hitter singled to left field to open the seventh and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt.
Bryan got the next hitter swinging at strike three, but surrendered an RBI single to right-center to the following batter that drove in the tying run.
The next two batters reached on a hit by pitch and a walk to load the bases with two gone.
That sequence of at-bats brought Jabe Giles, who began the season on Hoquiam's junior varsity, to the plate.
Bryan put Giles in the whole with two strikes before he reached out and lined a triple into the gap in right-center field.
The clutch hit cleared the bases and gave the Grizzlies a three-run lead. Bryan struck out the next batter swinging but the damage had been done.
In the bottom of the seventh, Crause singled to center with two away but the Bruins couldn't generate a rally against game-winner William Lingnau, Hoquiam's third pitcher of the game.
Lingnau took the mound in the bottom of the sixth and tossed 1-2/3 innings of one-hit scoreless relief.
"It was a disappointing loss, but they beat us with timely hits, we didn't beat ourselves," Bruins Coach Larry McCutcheon said.
Columbia played an error-free game behind the pitching of Crause and Bryan, and outhit Hoquiam, 9-7, overall.
"We played pretty darn, good defense. I was pleased with that," McCutcheon noted. "And the kids started to swing the bat the way they'd been coached by attacking the first-pitch fastball."
The Bruins collected four of their hits, and all four of their runs, in the bottom of third.
Freshman David Giron led off with a single to center and scored on junior Jason Carlock's single up the middle.
Junior James Cowan's single sent senior Charlie Kitchin home with the tying run.
After junior Casey Ferguson walked to load the bases, Crause singled to left to plate Carlock and Cowan, give CHS a 4-2 advantage and send Hoquiam's starter to the bench.
Junior Dane Ludwig continued the rally by reaching on infield single against reliever Josh Tomlin. But the reliever quelled the uprising by getting the next two CHS batters on to fan on swinging third strikes.
Crause, who entered the game seeking his fifth victory, got solid defensive support in the first inning after walking the game's first batter.
Ludwig made a diving catch in right field, then got up to throw to first to double up the runner, who had passed second base and was on his way to third.
Kitchin closed out the inning by with a nice play in the hole behind second that he completed by throwing to Cowan at first for the third out.
Hoquiam broke through against Crause in the top of second, however, scoring two runs on three basehits and a sacrifice bunt.
Crause breezed through the third and fourth innings and left with a 4-2 lead and a line of four innings pitched, two earned runs, three hits, two walks and three strikeouts.
In the fifth, Hoquiam squeezed home a run with a sacrifice bunt against Bryan to pull within 4-3.
After going quietly in the bottom of the fifth, the Bruins drew one-out walks from Tomlin to put runners at first and second.
Lingnau came on to retire the next two batters to keep the Grizzlies within three outs of rallying for a victory.
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