Mt. Hood defeated Columbia Basin in both games of the double header 7-5 and 10-7. The Saints used multiple big innings to pull away as the Basin pitching staff struggled to find consistency in both games.

Game 1

Mt. Hood started off hot against Hawk ace Ian Hughes who struggled with his command early on. In the top of the 1st, the Saints were able to connect on Hughes' fastball for multiple extra base hits and a 3-0 lead. Basin responded with one of their own in the bottom as Nick Grade was able to put one in play that brought home Steven Meier.

After another leadoff extra base hit in both the 3rd and 4th inning, Mt. Hood notched two more off of Hughes to make it 5-1. Alex Rodriguez singled in Isaac Haws in the bottom of the 4th to move the score closer at 5-2.

Hughes was able to tough it out deep into the 7th but ran into trouble with two runners on and two outs. Coach McGovern elected to give Hughes one more batter to see if he could close out the 7th. However, the Saint hitter drove one deep in the gap for 2 more runs.

The Hawks were able to plate another run in the 9th but it would not be enough as the final score remained in favor of Mt. Hood- 7-5.


Game 2

Basin this time was able to jump ahead early when Payton Kallaher burned the left fielder for an RBI triple. Kallaher was thrown out at home on the play after running through the stop sign at 3rd to end the inning.

Starter Cole Pearson was strong in 4 innings of work scattering just 4 hits. The bad inning of the day for the Hawk pitchers came in the 5th as Pearson was tagged for two hits in a row before walking the bases loaded with no outs. Mt. Hood then drew a walk and a single to close the book on Pearson still with the bases loaded. Reliever Ethan Petty was called on to try and get out of the jam. Unfortunately for Petty, his first pitch found its way to the other side of the outfield fence for a grand slam.

Mt. Hood added 3 more runs in the 5th as Brady Toth was able to finally put the inning to bed. When the dust had cleared, the Saints held a 9-1 lead heading into the 6th inning.

The Hawk offense showed some life in the 6th as Grade, Kallaher and Haws smacked doubles in a row before Rodriguez crushed a no-doubter to left field to inch Basin closer at 9-6. That would be the end of the threat as Mt. Hood scored one more in the 8th while CBC could only muster one more in the bottom of the 9th for the final of 10-7.

The losses drop CBC to 14-4 on the year with one more weekend of non-league play to go. Chemeketa will travel to the Tri-Cities on Saturday for a double-header. Sunday will feature a 3-team crossover day with CBC facing Chekemeta at 10am. At 1pm, Chemeketa will take on Bellevue in the mid-day game before the 4pm game where Bellevue will face CBC.