Mountaineers defeat Morton-White Pass on senior night

The Mountaineers defeated winless Morton-White Pass by a run-rule score of 11 to 1 on Monday, April 28, at Rainier Elementary School.

The Rainier High School baseball team has now won four straight games. They are winners of five of their last six, and six of their last eight.

Rainier started Monday’s game down a run, after a bases-loaded walk from Hunter Howell allowed a runner to score from third. The damage went no further, as a flyout to Wyatt Cughan ended the inning.

The three first-inning hits by the Timberwolves would be the only hits they’d record all game.

From that point on, it was Rainier senior pitchers Hunter Howell and Dayton Gardner who put on the show. Fitting, since it was their senior night.

The senior duo provided lockdown pitching across five innings, striking out a combined 10 batters. Howell earned his third win this season while Gardner allowed zero hits in relief duty.

Starting in the first, the Mountaineers added runs of two, one, four and four in successive innings, thanks to 11 hits and timely baserunning. The game was called in the fifth due to a ten-run rule.

Seven Rainier batters recorded hits in the blowout. Yazama Gurnsey went 2-for-4 with one RBI. He leads the team with a .481 batting average. Peyton Sheaffer went 1-for-1 and scored three runs. Wyatt Cughan, Kaymen Larman, Bryce Keller, Blake Fennel and Wyatt McIntyre added hits for the home team.
It was a clean game defensively for the Mountaineers, who have been hampered by costly errors throughout the season. This afternoon, they committed just one.

“We’re starting to play, we’re starting to hit the ball, we’re starting to field the ball like we should,” Rainier head coach Justin Gurnsey said after the game.
“The whole point is to be at your strongest at the end of the year, which is I think right where we’re at.”

Rainier’s last two losses, one to Toledo in extra innings, and another late-inning heartbreaker to Onalaska, have been by a combined two runs. Gursey noted that teams have not been able to run-rule them as much as they did last year.
“Only Adna has taken it to us,” Gurnsey said. “So, every other game we’ve actually been in pretty much from the get go. It’s just been our own mental errors that has held us back. But right now, I think they’re all feeling very confident that it doesn’t matter who we play, that if we just play like we can, we’re going to be in every game.”

Gurnsey complimented the pitching from Howell and Gardner, calling it a “tune-up” game for them, as the two weren’t active last week.

“I felt good, confident,” Howell said of his performance. “I felt like I was in control of what I was throwing.”

“I felt like I was in control the whole time,” Gardner said. “I kind of struggled with my windup a little bit and then I switched it up, stuck with my slide stuff and it just worked.”

Howell said an improvement in hitting has helped the team’s success during their recent win streak.

“We definitely still have a little bit further to go with it, but I think we’re getting to where we want to be,” Howell said.

“Our bats and our baserunning has been really good lately,” Gardner added.
Though they’re still focused on finishing the season, both pitchers said they’ve been able to reflect some on their baseball careers at Rainier. It’s hard not to on senior night.

“I’ve seen a lot of change in this team,” Gardner said. “And I like where it’s going right now.

Coach Gurnsey said it was good to get Howell and Gardner back on the mound as they approach the final stretch of the regular season.

“We have two tough non-league games that we’re going to go (play), but yeah, I need everybody’s arm dialed in for the playoffs,” Gurnsey said.

The Mountaineers (7-9, 7-9 Central 2B League) played Wahkiakum at home on Wednesday, April 30, at 3 p.m. Results were not available before press time.
They finish the regular season at home against Rochester on Friday, May 2.