Ephrata rolls into baseball semifinals

EPHRATA — The Tigers pounced on the Wapato Wolves early and Ephrata rolled into the Central Washington Athletic Conference (CWAC) baseball tournament’s semifinals with a 9-1 victory.

Ephrata took an early lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning and the Tigers never looked back.

The Tigers added another pair in the third and scored a single run in the fourth to take a 5-0 lead.

Wapato answered with a run in the top of the sixth inning to break Ephrata senior and starting pitcher Tyson Hubbard’s bid for a shutout.

Ephrata responded with four runs in the bottom of the sixth and the Tigers advanced into the semifinals.

Ephrata catcher Brett Bazaldua led the Tigers offense going 3-for-4 at the plate with a 2-run home run and 4 RBIs. Senior shortstop Eric Tinnell went 2-for-4 with a double and 2 RBIs to help power the Tigers.

The Tigers will take on CWAC foe and Columbia Basin rival Othello Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m. at Othello’s Huskie Stadium.

Othello and Ephrata tied for second place during the CWAC’s regular season and the two teams split the season series 1-1.

Ellensburg 24, Quincy 2

ELLENSBURG, Wash. — The Jackrabbits hung with the Bulldogs for the first five innings of Saturday’s Central Washington Athletic Conference (CWAC) baseball tournament before Ellensburg scored 18 runs in the sixth to top Quincy 24-2

The Jacks took the first lead of the game in the top of the second inning at 1-0 but the Bulldogs responded in the bottom half to tie the score.

Ellensburg scored a run in the third and a pair in each of the fourth and fifth innings to take a 6-2 advantage before the Bulldogs scored 18 runs to wrap up the victory.

Quincy fell into the consolation semifinals with the loss and the Jacks will play the loser of Tuesday’s Othello-Ephrata contest.

South Central Athletic Conference Baseball

Connell 14-4, Royal 0-1

CONNELL, Wash. — The Royal Knights wrapped up their 2009 baseball season Friday with a pair of losses to South Central Athletic Conference co-champion Connell.

Connell’s starting pitcher Nate Eppich threw a no-hitter for the Eagles in Game 1 to lift Connell to a 14-0 victory.

The Knights jumped on the Eagles in the top of the first inning of game two but the Eagles rallied past Royal 4-1 to complete the sweep.

Kiona-Benton 9, Warden 0

BURBANK, Wash. — The Warden Cougars finished their South Central Athletic Conference season Friday afternoon with a 9-0 loss to the Kiona-Benton Bears at Columbia-Burbank High School.

The Cougars split a doubleheader with the Bears Tuesday at Warden High School to set up Friday’s tiebreaker at neutral Columbia-Burbank.

Kiona-Benton jumped on the Cougars with three runs in the bottom of first inning and the Bears capitalized on four Warden errors to earn the 9-0 victory.

Kiona-Benton pitchers Corey Brundridge and Matt Mason combined to keep the Warden offense to just one hit Friday.