TENINO — Rochester capped off a three-game sweep of Tenino in a partial doubleheader on Friday, polishing off an 8-1 victory from a suspended Game 2 before taking the series finale 11-3.
“It’s always a fun series,” Rochester coach Brad Quarnstrom said, noting he coached Tenino coach Ryan Schlesser at one point during Schlesser’s playing career. “It’s just fun to have that and be around.”
Quarnstrom’s squad completed the Game 2 victory first, as they played the final three frames from a game that began on Monday but was suspended due to darkness.
The Warriors carried an 8-0 lead from Monday into Friday, where play began in the bottom of the fourth. Had Rochester been able to score two runs and go up 10, Quarnstrom said they would have turned to Tyler Huston for the fifth, but instead, Dane Akin came in and threw the final three frames.
Akin allowed just one hit and an unearned run to finish out the win, which was started by Ethan Rodriguez. Rodriguez didn’t allow a hit and struck out nine in four shutout innings.
The Warriors continued to dominate on the mound in the finale, as Easton Singleton (four innings) and Huston (three innings) combined to allow three unearned runs in the win. Singleton allowed just three hits and struck out nine, while Huston allowed just one hit and struck out three.
“I thought our pitchers threw extremely well today,” Quarnstrom said.
The Warriors (4-1, 4-0 1A Evergreen) continued to have success at the plate as well, scoring in all but one inning, including three in both the sixth and seventh.
Rodriguez and Tayden Martin drove in two runs apiece, while Clayton Knutson, Ruger Culp, and Owen Driver added an RBI each.
On Monday, during the start of Game 2, the Warriors scored eight runs in the first three innings, continuing the momentum that they got in Game 1, where they finished the game with 12 unanswered runs.
“We had a lot of good, quality at-bats,” Quarnstrom said, noting that the Warriors have settled in with more reps against live pitching. “Guys were getting deep into counts and seeing a lot of pitches, which tells me they’re seeing the ball well. We finally squared a few balls up and got guys in.”
In the other dugout, it was the opposite feeling.
After scoring eight runs in Game 1, the Beavers (1-4, 0-4 1A Evergreen) combined to score just four runs on Friday, and all four were unearned.
“We aren’t doing ourselves any favors,” Schlesser said. “We’re getting behind in counts, and they’re taking care of our mistakes. Defensively, we are not where we need to be. They had a good week at the plate, but we didn’t help ourselves out.”
It was a similar sentiment about the performance on the mound.
“They challenged us,” Schlesser said. “We just had a terrible approach … We talked about our two-strike approach, and it just wasn’t there today.”
It won’t get any easier next week for the Beavers. They have a league bye, but they have matchups with Charles Wright and La Center, a pair of 1A Final Four teams in 2025, before rounding out the week against Centralia.
Schlesser kept it real when talking about his team's prospects.
“The way we’re playing right now, we’re not gonna win a lot of games,” Schlesser said. “We gotta figure some stuff out mentally and physically.”
Rochester will take on Hoquiam in a three-game set next week, starting with a doubleheader in Hoquiam on Tuesday.
“We’ll just try to keep it rolling,” Quarnstrom said. “That’s a team that, knock on wood, we should come out 3 and 0 against next week, then we get into the second half of our league schedule with Elma and Montesano.”
