4/15/16
Prairie 6, Centralia 4
(Centralia, WA) Despite this game being a non-league contest both teams came in with their own reasons why it was important not only to play well but to get a win. Prairie was coming off a pair of blow out league wins over Fort Vancouver by a combined 30-4 score. Head Coach Mark Ripley was concerned about being sharp heading into their final 4 league games.
Centralia Head Coach Rex Ashmore wanted to snap a 3-game losing streak and were coming off a pair of losses to cross town rival WF West. One an especially tough loss of 1-0 at their home field.
Prairie got things started with the lead off batter Greg Bernash when the big right hander ripped a towering shot over the left field fence for a lead-off home run. It looked like Tigers starting pitcher Raul Lopez may give up more with the bases loaded and no outs with 1 on the board but Christian Peters gathered in a hot grounder from Josiah Nichols fired it home to catcher Chase Evinger who then gunned down Nichols at 1st for the double play and denying the Falcons. Perez would then get a fly out to end the threat and trailed 1-0.
Centralia struck right back with 2 out Nolan Wasson would walk and then score on an RBI double from Christian Peters followed by an RBI single from Garrett Hicks and the Tigers led 2-1 after the 1st. The Falcons would tie it in the top of the 2nd when Lopez walked the bases full with 1 out and Cory Bryan hit a deep RBI sac fly to score Taylor Beaupre and it was all even 2-2.
The ProActive Physical Therapy would come in the bottom of the 3rd inning with the Tigers threatening with runners on 1st and 2nd and 1 out a nifty 6-4-3 double play would end the inning and the scoring threat.
Centralia would break through in the bottom of the 4th with 2 runs when Kieran Bredeson led off with a lead-off double. He would score on a Joey Aliff RBI single. Aliff would then score on an RBI single from Chase Evinger.The Tigers would leave the bases loaded though but did take a 4-2 lead.
The Falcons came storming back in the top of the 7th when that guy Bernash led off with another massive hit deep to left that hit on the warning track and off the wall for a stand=up double. Bryan would single and Logan Jones walked to load the bases and that would chase the Tigers 2nd pitcher Cody Parker and Nolan Wasson would come in. Wasson faced the #4 hitter Alec Gawley who was hitless but made up for it pounding one into the right-center gap scoring 2 runs to tie the game at 4. After a strike-out Braden Heaps then looped one to left and Aliff looked to have snagged it but the ball fell out and 2 more would score and Prairie took a 6-4 lead into the bottom of the 7th.
Bernash came in to relieve Michael Gradwohl who pitched a gutty game for 6 innings keeping the Falcons close. Bernash would finish off the Tigers in a 1-2-3 inning and the Falcons secured the win to go to 7-5 on the season. Centralia is also now 7-5. Our Tommy Lowe of the Greene Realty Group Players of the Game were Greg Bernash for Prairie and Chase Evinger for Centralia.
