By SVERRE BAKKE
The Enterprise
Columbia High moved into first place in SWW 1A League Trico Division baseball standings last week with an April 15 double-header sweep of La Center.
The Bruins (4-0 in Trico, 5-3 overall), playing their first game since April 1, trailed only briefly in game one on their way to a 16-8 victory.
Columbia broke the contest open with a 10-run second inning.
The Bruins started the rally by loading the bases against Wildcats starter Colby Nueberger with no outs and got their first run when Nueberger hit Connor Warner with a pitch.
With two away, Jared McDonald and Danny Giron slugged consecutive two-run singles to keep the rally going. Dane Bargabus followed two batters later with an RBI single, Kevin Kreps doubled home two runs and Warner capped the uprising with a two-run single.
Warner finished with a career-high five runs batted in while batting 2 for 4. Bargabus totaled three hits and two RBIs, and scored a team-high four runs.
Noted Bruins Coach Larry McCutcheon: “The bottom third of our order really came through for us with six hits and ten runs batted in. They were the difference in the game.”
All told, the Bruins tallied 13 hits and 15 RBIs off two La Center pitchers, who combined to issue eight walks and hit three batters.
Right-hander Taylor Champion got the win for Columbia, limiting the Wildcats to five runs (one earned) and four hits in five innings of work.
In game two, the Bruins played as the home team and led from the outset, scoring runs in three of their four at-bats en route to a 9-1 victory in five innings.
“We played some pretty good baseball,” McCutcheon said of CHS’s effort in the second game.
A four-run second inning in which Columbia’s first six batters reached base set the tone for the outcome. The Bruins got their runs on a single by McDonald, Pate’s bases-loaded walk, a single by Jason Collins and Kreps’ sacrifice fly.
Collins led CHS’s six-hit attack, going 2 for 2 with three runs batted in. Kreps finished with two RBIs and McDonald had two hits, three runs and two stolen bases.
On the mound, McDonald went the distance for CHS, yielding five hits, four walks and an earned run while striking out seven. He ended the game by working out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning.
SWW 1A TRICO DIVISION BASEBALL
Columbia High at La Center
Tuesday, April 15
— Double-header —
Game One
Bruins 0(10)0 210 3 — 16 13 1
Wildcats 201 020 3 — 11 4 3
Pitching: (WS) Taylor Champion, Danny Giron (6) and Andy Pate; (LC) Colby Nueberger, Curtis Nye (2) and Nick Deotsch. WP — Champion, 5 IP, 4 hits, 5 runs, 1 ER, 4 Ks, 4 BBs, 1 HB. LP — Nueberger (Team: 6 Ks, 8 BBs, 3 HBs).
Hits: (WS) Taylor Champion 1-6, Jared McDonald 1-3, Danny Giron 1-4, Andy Pate 3-4, Jason Collins 1-3, Dane Bargabus 3-3, Kevin Kreps 1-3, Connor Warner 2-4; (LC) Jay Bechtold 2-3, Chris Concannon 1-2, Duke Kelly 1-1. 2B: (WS) Pate, Bargabus, Kreps; (LC) Bechtold.
RBIs: (WS) Warner 5, Kreps 3, Bargabus 2, McDonald 2, Giron 2, Austin Rabinowitz 1; (LC) Bechtold 3. Runs: (WS) Bargabus 4, Pate 3, Kreps 2, McDonald 2, Collins 2. SBs: (WS) McDonald 2-2, Champion 1-1. DPs: LC, F9-3 in 3rd. LOB: Columbia 9; La Center 5.
Game Two
Wildcats 001 00 — 1 5 3
Bruins 420 3x — 9 6 1
Pitching: (WS) Jared McDonald and Andy Pate; (LC) Miles Yaw and Nick Deotsch. WP — McDonald 5 IP, 5 hits, 1 run, 1 ER, 7 Ks, 4 BBs. LP — Yaw 4 IP, 6 hits, 9 runs.
Hits: (LC) Duke Kelly 1-1, Tyler Roberson 1-2, Chris Concannon 1-3, Jay Swan 1-3, Yaw 1-3; (WS) Dane Bargabus 1-3, Taylor Champion 1-3, McDonald 2-3, Jason Collins 2-2.
RBIs: (LC) Concannon 1; (WS) Collins 3, Kreps 2, McDonald, Pate 1. Runs: (LC) Roberson; (WS) McDonald 3, Giron 2, Bargabus, Champion, Collins. SBs: (LC) Yaw 1-1, Kelly 1-1; (WS) McDonald 2-2, Collins 1-1, Kreps 1-1. SacFly: (WS) Kreps. LOB: La Center 6; Columbia 5.
La Salle 8, at Klickitat 5: The visiting Lightning scored three runs in the top of the seventh last Friday to win the Greater Columbia B League contest versus the Vandals.
La Salle tagged Klickitat starter Jeromie Mason for five runs (one earned) and looked to be in control of the game after five innings.
But the Vandals came alive in the bottom of the sixth. They got their first three runs on an inside-the-park home run by Dannon Kavanagh, then tied the game at 5-all with a two-run homer by Kris Wood.
At Klickitat 11-10, Stevenson 2-0: Dannon Kavanagh hit another inside-the-park home run and Kris Wood blasted a two-run shot to pace the Vandals to last Saturday’s game-one victory over the Bulldogs.
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