Saturday Roundup: Grays Harbor College opens baseball season with dramatic walk-off win over Centralia

Also: Monte baseball sweeps season-series over Tenino; Grays Harbor Gulls open season with loss

By Ryan Sparks • April 4, 2021 1:30 am

The Grays Harbor College baseball team opened its season with a dramatic victory over Centralia as we take a look at the local sports action from Easter weekend.

COLLEGE BASEBALL

Grays Harbor 6, Centralia 5

Nolan Baugher’s double in extra innings gave the Grays Harbor Chokers a dramatic come-from-behind, walk-off victory in the opening game of a doubleheader against Centralia on Saturday at Olympic Stadium in Hoquiam.

Baugher drove Centralia right-hander Colby Knutzen’s 2-0 pitch the the left-center field gap with the bases loaded. After Preston Vine and Aiden McMurdo crossed the plate with the Chokers’ fourth and fifth runs, Grays Harbor second baseman Chase Cleveringa slid home to beat the relay throw to the plate, giving the Chokers the 6-5 victory and setting off a celebration on the infield as Baugher was surrounded by his teammates.

The play ended what was a wild 10th inning, as Centralia scored two in the top half of the frame to take a seemingly-safe 5-3 lead into bottom of the 10th.

Grays Harbor (1-1 overall) opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the second inning on Caleb Berry’s two-run double.

Centralia (1-1) responded with two runs in the top of the third and took a 3-2 lead the following inning on a sacrifice fly by Andrew Dalton.

Grays Harbor catcher Peyton Brock’s solo home run in the bottom of the sixth tied the game at 3-3, where it remained until the 10th inning.

Grays Harbor’s Cameron Denny (2-3, R) and Caleb Berry (2-4, 2B, 2RBI) had multi-hit games for the Chokers, which had eight hits as a team.

Chokers relief pitcher Colin Hoover earned the win, pitching 2-3 of an inning in the top of the 10th.

Trevor Barth started for Grays Harbor and took a no decision, allowing three earned runs on two hits, eight strikeouts and three walks in six innings pitched.

Centralia 002 100 000 2 — 5 3 3

Grays Harbor 020 001 000 3 — 6 8 1

Centralia 9, Grays Harbor 1

Grays Harbor fell behind early and never recovered in a 9-1 seven-inning loss to Centralia in the night cap of a double header on Saturday in Hoquiam.

Centralia scored four runs in the first inning off Chokers starter Luke Stutesman, who also got into trouble in the fourth. Stutesman allowed seven earned runs on seven hits and four walks while striking out four.

Grays Harbor’s lone run came on a Caleb Berry sac fly in the bottom of the fourth inning, cutting Centralia’s lead to 7-1.

Centralia scratched across insurance runs in both the top of the eighth and ninth innings to secure the victory.

Trent Jackson went 3-for-5 with a double and four RBI to lead Centralia.

Centralia starter Ayden Ruminski allowed one earned run on three hits over five innings of work to pick up the victory.

Centralia 400 301 1 — 9 10 0

Grays Harbor 000 100 0 — 1 4 1

SOCCER

Snohomish County 4, Grays Harbor 1

The Grays Harbor Gulls opened is 2021 Western Washington Premier League season with a 4-1 loss to reigning champion Snohomish County 4-1 on Saturday.

The Steelheads broke through with a penalty-kick goal in the 25th minute by Rio Alcorta.

Snohomish’s Parker Van Driel converted a cross while making a run down the right-wing for a 2-0 lead.

Down 3-0 in the 65th minute, the Gulls (0-1) broke the shutout by working the ball through midfielders Juanito Lopez, Jay Hardy and Alex Barene before Aaron Arias sent a cross to the back post. Grays Harbor’s Irvin Vicente finished in traffic to make it a 3-1 match.

Snohomish added a goal off a short corner kick with 10 minutes to play to earn the 4-1 victory.

“Possession was pretty even but a few costly mistakes tipped the scale,” Gulls head coach Drew Grannemann said. “We did a great job building the attack and creating goal scoring opportunities. We just need to correct our mistakes and tidy up the small aspects of our game.”

PREP BASEBALL

Montesano 13, Tenino 2

Montesano swept the season series over the Tenino Beavers with a 13-2 victory on Saturday in Montesano.

Montesano freshmen infielder Bode Poler continued his hot start to the 2021 season, driving in three runs for the Bulldogs and going 2-for-3 with a run.

Monte (4-1 overall, 1A Evergreen) scored two in the first, a run in the and two in the fifth to lead 5-0 before Tenino responded with a pair or runs in the bottom of the fifth.

The Bulldogs scratched across a run in the sixth before blowing the game wide open with seven runs in the top of the seventh, including a two-run double by Poler and an RBI single by Jack Anderson.

Tenino (0-3) was also hampered by five walks and two of its five errors in Monte’s seven-run seventh.

Eight different Monte players collected hits in the game as the Bulldogs scored 10 runs for the third straight victory over Tenino. In its last three games, Montesano has outscored the Beavers 36-3.

Jackson Busz started on the mound for Monte and allowed two earned runs on five hits to pick up the win. Busz struck out six and walked none in his five innings pitched.

Tyler Johansen pitched two innings of scoreless, hitless relief for the Bulldogs.

Montesano 210 021 7 — 13 10 2

Tenino 000 020 0 — 2 5 5