Prep baseball: W.F. West trounces Centralia to sweep Swamp Cup series

Q: What was the final score of the W.F. West vs. Centralia baseball game?

W.F. West won the game against Centralia with a final score of 13-3.

Q: What is the significance of the Swamp Cup series?

The Swamp Cup series is a rivalry series between W.F. West and Centralia in high school baseball.

Q: Where was the W.F. West vs. Centralia baseball game played?

The game was played at Bearcat Stadium.

Apr. 25—BOX SCORE

At Bearcat Stadium

BEARCATS 13, TIGERS 3 (5 inn.)

Centralia030 00 — 3

W.F. West504 13 — 13

CEN Highlights — Holmes 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI; Erickson 1-2, R, BB; Yeung 1-3, R

WFW Pitching — Rooney 3 IP, 4 H, 3 R (0 ER), 1 BB, 3 SO; McCallum 2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO. Highlights — Coleman 2-3, 2B, HR, 5 RBI, 3 R, BB; Hoffman 1-3, 2B, 3 R; Smaciarz 1-3, 3B, RBI, R

The vibes were all over the place at W.F. West High School on Friday afternoon.

There was a backup scoreboard operator, their original bookkeeper was absent and the person that runs the Bearcats' GameChanger ran late. Oh and at about 12:30 p.m., Jesse Elam's dog ate mouse poison.

"It was a string of weird stuff," W.F. West's head baseball coach said. "One thing after another."

About the only thing normal was the final score and the victor.

Fueled by Connor Coleman's three-run blast and taking advantage of free bases, the Bearcats ran their winning streak to 14 by defeating Centralia 13-3 in five innings to finish off a three-game Swamp Cup sweep.

Since March turned to April, W.F. West has improved in runs per game (7.5 to 11.8), hits per game (7.8 to 8.2) and cut down on errors (2 to 1.3). The hits are the smallest jump and despite having two errors in five games this month, it hasn't affected the win column.

Which is all Elam cares about at the end of the day.

"I think offensively, we are right on the cusp," he said. "Our team is in it for each other and that's what you see."

There has also been a recurring theme of a strong strikeout to walk ratio. The 10 walks the Bearcats (14-1, 9-0 EvCo) drew on Friday is the second-most this spring. They've only struck out 62 times all year.

Nine of their 15 games have featured more instances of standing on first than walking into the dugout.

"It is all situational when it comes to our approach," Elam said. "We preach controlling the zone, whether we're at the mound or at the plate, and I thought we got away from that on a few swings."

Coleman, the Washington State commit, opened the scoring with a two-run double in the first that kickstarted a five-run frame. W.F. West was able to chase Centralia (2-13, 1-9) starter Shawn Holmes after one out.

There were a grand total of three hit by pitches and three base on balls in the frame. Tigers head coach Jake LeDuc felt it was time to pull Holmes — who was making his first start — earlier than intended.

"I didn't want this thing to get way out of hand," LeDuc said.

Holmes redeemed himself at the plate, taking advantage of a two-out error the batter prior with a towering double to left to score two runs and make it a 5-3 game. The Tigers failed to add in the third when they bases loaded and one out.

And then things unraveled in the bottom half.

A simple grounder off Wyatt Hoffman's bat was seemingly routine, but the base umpire ruled that Hudson Waterfield bobbled the ball and called Hoffman safe.

Coleman delivered the exclamation point with a three-run homer to right field to make it 9-3 and put the game on ice. Miles Martin ended up walking it off in the fifth on a bases loaded hit by pitch.

"The ball was crushed," Elam said of the homer.

"That's been the story of our season is not being able to catch a break," LeDuc stated on the error.

Hoffman and Alex Stafford each scored three times despite one hit between them. Martin recorded two RBIs with two walks and Hiroto Smaciarz laced a triple, scored and drove in a run. Hayden Rooney and Hudson McCallum combined for seven strikeouts on the mound.

The Bearcats, which also notched nine stolen bases, begin a two-game set with Shelton starting on Tuesday then the week is capped with a single game versus Black Hills next Friday.

"I like to steal because I never could as a player," Elam said.

Five different players notched a hit for Centralia, which has two more two-game sets with Tumwater (starts on Tuesday) and Aberdeen (next week). It took plenty of fierce language to get the Tigers back into a groove, but LeDuc still feels good about his roster.

"We have battled all year long," he said. "I think the kids took that to heart and they've played hard."