After a successful 4 game series against Yakima Valley in the opening weekend of the season, the Trojans looked for a repeat performance at home this past weekend with clear sunny skies at Everett Memorial Stadium. Scheduled games were against Centralia College, Spokane CC, and Big Bend CC.
The Trojans opened up the weekend against Centralia College who was playing in their first ball game of 2019. After a 1,2,3 top half of the first inning, the Trojans jumped on the board early with three runs in the bottom of the first thanks in large part to a Tyler McClain triple that drove in two runs. Then in the 4th inning the doors were blown open when the Everett pushed pass 6 runs. Sam Linscott started it off with a 2 run single, and Tyler McClain had himself a day with a double and 2 more RBI's to his credit. Lefty starting pitcher Brycen Allen was incredible going seven-shutout innings giving up just 2 hits (no hitter through 5) and walked only one. The Trojans ended the game in the top of the 7th on the ten run rule finishing the route 10-0.
Game 2 on the day was under the lights with a 6:45pm start time against a solid program in Spokane. The Sasquatch were a top team in the East last year, finishing 2nd in the east region and advancing to the final four teams in the NWAC Championship tournament. The game would prove to be a defensive pitching dual as both Jacob Bradley (Trojans starter) and Cameron Liss (Sasquatch starter) would throw no hitters through five innings. Left fielder Brian Pino had this nice grab in the 4th inning at the time kept the no hitter going. Spokane eventually cracked the run column first in the 6th inning on an RBI double, but the Trojans would bounce back scoring two runs in the 7th and another run in the 8th to take a 3-2 lead going into the 9th inning. Closing pitcher James McMurray struck out the first Spokane batter before walking the next three. With the bases loaded a ground ball to short stop would drive in a run and move the tying run up to third with two outs. McMurray kept his composure and got out of the jam with a fly ball to left field to secure the 3-2 win.
On a beautiful March, Sunday morning Everett faced another top team from last year out of the East in Big Bend CC (finished 3rd). The Trojans jumped out early once again scoring 3 runs in the first inning and another one in the 2nd inning. Starting pitcher for EvCC, Zach Boswell pitched an excellent game going five shutout innings and giving up 3 hits. Big Bend would score a run in the 6th off relief pitcher Connor Olmstead, but an offensive answer in the bottom half of the inning and four more runs in the 8th inning for Everett would seal another decisive win by a final score of 10-1. Everett tallied 14 total hits including two triples one from Charlie Larson and one from Colton Richards, who went 3 for 5 on the day with 2 RBI's.
In the final game of the weekend, Everett would face Centralia College for the second time, hoping for a repeat performance of the first meeting. Through the first 3 innings it looked as though it would be a much tighter ball game as neither team could score and only Centralia could muster a hit. The Trojans got into the run column in the bottom of the 4th from a Centralia error, but the Trailblazers responded in the top of the 5th ending starting pitcher Paul Falco's scoreless 4.1 innings. Everett blew the game open once again on Centralia scoring 7 runs in the 6th inning highlighted by Tate Wallat's 3 RBI triple, and eventually built a 9-1 lead. After a scoreless top half of the 7th for Centralia, Everett once again ended the game early on the Blazers with two more runs in the bottom half of the inning to push the lead out to ten, and enact the 10 run rule, winning by a final score of 11-1.
Highlight performances for the weekend came from starting pitcher Brycen Allen who went 7 shutout innings and allowed only 2 hits in the first game against Centralia; Zach Boswell, who got the start and win over Big Bend with 5 innings pitched 0 earned runs and only three hits. Offensively it was Austin Hauck with a .636 average in 11 AB's and 5 RBI's; and Tyler McClain who hit .250 but came up with hits in crucial spots tallying 6 RBI's and also had a double and a triple.