Mountaineers suffer narrow home loss to Napavine

The Rainier High School baseball team (1-7) took it to extra innings, but came up short, losing to Napavine by a final of 4-1 on Monday, March 31. It was their second consecutive loss to their conference opponent in as many games. The two teams have traded home games.

Rainier and Napavine remained tied 1-1 going into the eighth. After four straight scoreless innings, the Tigers started overtime with a single from Grady Wilson. Two subsequent walks — with a groundout in-between — loaded the bases with just one out. The Tigers took advantage of a fielding error in their next at-bat to score Grady Wilson from third.

The Tigers would add two more runs before Rainier could retire the side. The Mountaineers failed to rally in their turn at bat, ending the contest. Wilson finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs for the Tigers.

After the game, Rainier head coach Justin Gurnsey credited the talent of Napavine’s roster, calling them a very tough baseball team, but said he liked the way his team competed in all phases.

“That was really nice to see,” Gurnsey said. “It feels like we’re at the midway point… and now we just need to carry it forward.”

Peyton Sheaffer started on the mound for the home-team Mountaineers, going five and two-thirds innings with two strikeouts. He gave up five hits and one unearned run.

“He was dynamite,” Gurnsey said of Sheaffer. “He had some innings where he only had to throw a couple pitches. He trusted his defense, but he was dialed.”

“My arm was feeling good today,” Sheaffer said of his performance. “Our defense played really good. I want to thank my coaches for helping me pitch.”

Sheaffer did more than just pitch. He also recorded one of Rainier’s five hits, and spent time at shortstop. He spoke about his mindset going into games, knowing he might be counted on in multiple ways.

“Just one play at a time,” Sheaffer said, “and if you mess up, next play.”

Dayton Gardner came in from shortstop to relieve Sheaffer in the sixth inning, striking out the final batter to finish the frame. Gardner would continue into the eighth, before being replaced by Yazama Gurnsey.

Both Coach Gurnsey and Sheaffer were proud of the way their defense backed up their pitchers.

“Our outfield is one of our strengths, our outfield defense for sure,” Gurnsey said. “They can track the ball down. And it doesn’t matter. I put Wyatt McIntyre, who’s my super utility guy. He’s played third, he’s played second, he played left field and he made a couple of catches out there, too. We have a dynamic outfield that gets to almost everything. But the infield made plays today, too. I feel like they’re starting to play baseball. It’s nice to see.”

“I’m really proud of them,” Sheaffer added.

Gurnsey noted an improvement in his team’s base running during the game. The objective now is to pair that with more success at the plate.

“We’re starting to hit the ball better,” Gurnsey. “And that’s what we need to do, because I think our defense and our pitching will keep us in games and we just need to hit the ball. And we started to do that, but just didn’t get the right hit at the right time. But it’s coming.”

Gardner went 2-for-4 at the plate. Gurnsey, Sheaffer, and Wyatt Cughan recorded the team’s other hits.

The Mountaineers (1-7, 1-7 Central 2B League) continued their week with an away game at Onalaska on Wednesday, April 2. Results were unavailable before press time.