Through four and a half innings against Tenino on Monday, Rochester was struggling to come through with a big hit.
The Warriors had stranded several runners on base, and they found themselves down seven with just nine outs to work with.
The dam broke open in a big way for the Rochester offense in the next two innings, though, as the Warriors scored 12 runs to finish off a 13-8 comeback victory.
“We finally got some clutch base hits,” Rochester coach Brad Quarnstrom said. “We were able to put some runs on the board.”
In the fifth, T Martin hit an RBI single, D Akin hit an RBI groundout, R Culp drilled a two-run double, and S Barth added a two-run double of his own to get the Warriors within one at 8-7.
An RBI double from Easton Singleton tied the game at 8, and a pair of wild pitches three batters later led to two Rochester runs and put the Warriors up 10-8. Barth added a sacrifice fly, Ethan Rodriguez drew a bases-loaded walk, and Martin was hit by a pitch to force home another run and put Rochester ahead by five heading into the seventh.
In the final frame, Singleton worked around a one-out single, finishing off his two and a third scoreless innings.
“Easton came in and did a fantastic job shutting the door,” Quarnstrom said.
Barth finished with three RBIs, and Martin and Culp both added two.
The offensive momentum carried over into Game 2 of the doubleheader, as the Warriors scored eight runs in the first three innings of the game.
Rodriguez pitched the top of the fourth, capping four hitless innings with nine strikeouts, but the game was suspended at that point due to darkness.
The game will be picked up from the bottom of the fourth with Rochester up 8-0 on Friday prior to the series finale between Tenino (1-1) and Rochester (1-1) on Friday in Tenino.
