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Tenino’s baseball team planted its foot on the gas pedal from the opening inning and never looked back in a 10-0, five-inning win over Hoquiam on Tuesday night in an Evergreen League contest held at Olympic Stadium.

Five runs in the top of the first inning paved the path for the Beavers (14-4, 8-3 Evergreen) behind an error, RBI double from Kellan Knox, a two-run base hit off the bat of Leland White and a Hunter Sweet RBI single to cap the frame.

The Beavers added three more in the third and two in the fifth to enact the run-rule. Knox and Cody Strawn each went 2-for-3 at the plate while Will Feltus crossed home twice and stole two bases.

Preston Snider pitched all five innings for Tenino, allowing four hits and striking out five. Tenino will face Cedar Park Christian in a non-league game on Saturday morning.

More than half a dozen W.F. West student-athletes made the next step in their athletic careers on Tuesday, signing National Letters of Intent at a signing event in the W.F. West commons.

Natalie Eklund (Golf, Seattle Pacific), Parker Eiswald (Basketball, Lower Columbia College), Ella Young (Softball, Grinnell College), Lucas Hoff (Track and Field, Lane Community College), and Braden Jones (Baseball, Tacoma Community College) will all head out of Lewis County to compete collegiately.

Staysha Fluetsch (Soccer and Softball) and Tyler Klatush (Basketball) will stay closer to home, as they both signed with Centralia College.

The short ceremony happened in front of hundreds of students, teachers, coaches, and parents, a welcome sight for W.F. West athletic director Tommy Elder.

“They’re proud of the kids that are up there,” Elder said. “I think it speaks to their character and what they meant to their peers.”

Elder commended all seven Bearcats, saying that not only did they put time and effort into their specific sports, but they also excelled in other sports and in other areas on campus.

Elder added that he was proud that each one took time to find what school fits them best, and he was happy that Fluetsch and Klatush will be close enough for the W.F. West community to support them in person.

“Part of what makes them who they are is the family and community support that they’ve had,” Elder said. “It’s great that we can continue to show that to them as they stay local.”

Twenty-four hours after clipping Aberdeen in a pitcher’s duel, W.F. West broke out the bats on the road to dismantle its Evergreen Conference foe 13-3 on the road Tuesday night.

With just two league games left for the Bearcats (14-4, 8-2 EvCo), they have clinched the No. 2 seed in the district tournament that kicks off in a couple weeks. They’ll face the third-seeded team from the Greater St. Helens League in a quarterfinal on May 7.

Despite giving up five errors, W.F. West broke the game open with an eight-run top of the fourth. Grady Westlund roped an RBI double to put it up two runs then the floodgates opened. Sacrifice fly and RBI single made it 6-2, Miles Martin and Weston Potter connected on two straight two-run doubles to give the Bearcats double digit runs.

Martin, Potter and Deacon Meller combined to drive in seven runs as the middle of W.F. West’s lineup. Martin earned the win on the mound with over four innings pitched.

The Bearcats will face Tumwater in a non-league game on Bob Peters Field at Centralia College then turn around next week and face Centralia in the two games for the Swamp Cup to close the regular season.

ROCHESTER — It was about the end of the third inning when the Rochester dugout began thinking about it.

Henry Gramelspacher had worked around a couple of baserunners in the second, but he had struck out the side in order in the third, and he hadn’t allowed a base hit to that point.

Per baseball tradition, no one dared to mention it.

“I thought it, but of course wasn't gonna say anything,” Rochester coach Brad Quarnstrom said with a laugh. “And I didn’t even wanna go look.”

Gramelspacher finished the no-hitter by retiring the final nine batters he faced, and the Rochester offense did its part to earn a 10-0 run-rule win over Centralia.

Gramelspacher ended up retiring 17 of the 19 batters he faced, only issuing a walk and hitting one batter, and he racked up 10 strikeouts.

“Third, fourth inning, I kind of just stopped thinking and got into the groove of it,” Gramelspacher said. “I dialed in and played my game.”

As he finished his sentence, Kole Smith and Ethan Rodriguez snuck up from behind and dumped a full water cooler onto him.

Drenched, he explained how Rochester, which has won four of its last five games to put itself in a playoff position, has been able to strike a balance between being intense and playing loose.

“We’re going out there and just playing our game,” Gramelspacher said. “We’re playing Rochester baseball.”

On Tuesday, that included a fair share of small ball, as the Warriors (8-7, 4-5 2A EvCo) laid down several bunts and often went station-to-station to put runners in scoring position.

They did the most of their damage in the first two innings, where they scored six runs. Ethan Rodriguez opened the scoring by crossing the plate on an error, and Smith knocked an RBI double into the gap.

In the second, Colton Weiss, Mason Ubias, and Tate Quarnstrom all hit RBI singles to make it a 6-0 game.

After Gramelspacher helped himself with an RBI single in the fifth, Smith made it 9-0 with a two-run single in the sixth, and Tayden Martin came through with the run-rule walk-off single, a chopper up the middle.

“We were able to do good things at the plate by just putting it in play,” Quarnstrom said. “We didn’t have world-beaters off the wall, but you don’t have to … Things add up.”

The Warriors also played flawless defense. After a runner reached to open the second, Ubias caught a fly ball deep in center field and doubled him off at second. 

It was the first time since March 18 that the Warriors didn’t commit a single error.

“You start doing all those things together, you look pretty good,” Quarnstrom said. “Today was a good day for us.”

Rochester now has the chance to clinch a district tournament berth with a win in the rematch against Centralia on Wednesday. With a loss to Rochester, the Tigers (6-9, 3-6 2A EvCo) would be eliminated.

“We’re still not out of it,” Centralia coach Jake LeDuc said. “Did we make the road harder for ourselves? Yeah. But that’s baseball … We gotta be positive. We gotta expect to win, and come out ready tomorrow.”

Five errors and little production at the plate proved to be the Wolves’ downfall in an 8-0 Evergreen Conference loss to the Highclimbers on Tuesday night in Tumwater.

The setback officially eliminates Black Hills from the district tournament as it sits four games back of fourth place Rochester with three league games to go. Only Aberdeen and Centralia are still alive for a berth in the postseason.

Orion Pate was the only Black Hills (3-12, 1-9 EvCo) hitter to reach base, notching a single and drawing a walk. Of its 21 at-bats, it struck out 12 times. The Wolves used four pitchers versus Shelton and two of the eight runs allowed were earned.

The Highclimbers led 4-0 after three innings and added on with three more in the sixth and another insurance run in the seventh. The two foes will meet again on Wednesday night in Shelton.