3/21/23

(Centralia, WA) Evergreen 2A baseball got underway on Tuesday night and one of the league openers saw the Aberdeen Bobcats take on the Centralia Tigers at Wheeler Field. The teams played an extra frame as well to make baseball season worth the wait as Aberdeen overcame a nine-run deficit in the 6th to tie the game. However, the dark skies turned out to be the deciding factor as Centralia would capitalize to walk it off for a 14-13 win in the opener.

Walks hurt Centralia early as seven Bobcats reached base in the first three innings via the free pass. Only three of those walks would come around to score but a three-run 3rd for Aberdeen gave the Bobcats a 4-2 lead. Centralia would bring in Brady Sprague to pitch the 4th and 5th and he was dominant. Sprague went 2 scoreless innings and allowed no hits while striking out one and walking one. Those two innings kept the score within reach for the Tigers.

While Sprague was dominating on the mound, the lineup got to work for Centralia in the bottom of the 4th and 5th. A two-run double by Moshie Eport tied the game back up.  He would score on a single by Carlos Vallejo and a couple more runs were added for the Tigers to make it 7-4 Centralia after four innings. The 5th was even better for the Tigers. A couple of timely hits by Vallejo and Marcus Miller cashed in on some walks and hit batters. Six runs came across to score for Centralia to make it 13-4 and they had what would be the winning run via the mercy rule on third. Aidan Baker got out of the jam for Aberdeen which kept the game alive and headed to the 6th.

The top of the 6th stunned everyone as Aberdeen fought all the way back. Seven hits for the Bobcats just kept everyone marching along the base paths. To cap it all off, Aberdeen starting pitcher Hunter Eisele came to the plate and crushed a two-run home run to tie the game at 13-13. Momentum had firmly shifted in favor of the Bobcats.

Neither side pushed across a run so the game went into extra innings as the sun disappeared for the 8th inning. That darkness played a major role in the outcome of the game. Aberdeen hit a couple of pop ups that got lost but one was still caught which helped Marcus Miller get out of the inning without allowing a run. Centralia would benefit as well but they cashed in. Roberto Rosales-Norris reached second base on a pop up that didn’t make it past the pitchers mound. Bases were loaded a few batters later as Eport stepped to the plate. A fly ball to left center was deep enough and scored Rosales-Norris to give Centralia a stressful walk-off win 14-13.

Our Thorbeckes MVP was Moshie Eport. He was fantastic defensively at shortstop and did plenty of damage at the plate going 2-4 with two doubles, a walk, a game winning sacrifice fly for three RBIs and three runs scored.

Centralia moves to 1-1 and 1-0 in league play while Aberdeen drops to 2-1 and 0-1 in league play. The teams are scheduled to meet again on Wednesday in Aberdeen.

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