One of the wildest first-round Oregon high school baseball state tournament games across the state resulted in a win for No. 19 Portland Christian on Monday, May 26.

The Royals, making their first postseason appearance since 2014, were out east to take on No. 14 Union/Cove and trailed 6-0 after the first four innings.

That’s when the bats woke up.

Senior Joseph Diesel singled up the middle to score two runs in the top of the fifth, and later scored on a single to center by Evan Satre. That cut the lead to 6-3.

However, Union/Cove got a couple of them right back with two runs plated in the home half of the fifth, making it 8-3 Bobcats after five.

Portland Christian was only offering a preview in the fifth though as the Royals turned in an eight-run top of the sixth.

Noah Humphrey took a bases-loaded walk to score, then Donovan Endres singled to center to score the second run of the frame.

Jack Mazurowski continued his stellar senior season with a single to the right side that scored two more runs, making it 8-7 Union/Cove.

Diesel was back up and singled to the right side again, tying the game up at eight with Endres scoring.

A passed ball on a third strike allowed Satre to reach first and also allowed Mazurowski to score from third, giving the Royals a 9-8 lead.

Pasquale Walker hit an RBI single and two outs later, it was Coleson Schroeder with an RBI single to make it 11-8 Royals after the top of the sixth.

Union/Cove could have easily folded, but instead, the Bobcats had some fireworks of their own.

A leadoff double plus a walk allowed Micah Jayne’s triple to score two runs. A hit by pitch later and it was Morgan Johnson up to bat, and he crushed a ball to left field for a three-run home run, putting the Bobcats ahead 13-11 after six.

With their backs against the wall, the Royals came out firing once again with Endres and Mazurowski opening the top of the seventh with back-to-back singles.

Diesel was next and tripled to right field to tie the game at 13. After an out, Walker was next and he skied a ball to right field that was dropped, allowing Diesel to score the go-ahead run and make it 14-13 Royals.

Union/Cove scratched out a run in the seventh to tie the game at 14. Jayne hit a single and stole second, and then tried to steal third where an error occurred and he scored from there.

Going to extras, Humphrey got the Royals going with a one-out single, stole second and reached third on a passed ball.

Endres hit a ground ball to the shortstop and threw Endres out, but that allowed Humphrey to score from third.

In the bottom of the eighth, Diesel picked up a strikeout on the first at bat, then a ground ball to Schroeder at third for the second out. A single gave Union/Cove some life, but a grounder to Mazurowski at short ended the frame and the game, giving PC the wild 15-14 victory.

Up next will be a familiar foe in Special District 1 rival No. 3 Clatskanie. The Tigers swept the three-game regular season series with wins of 12-6, 8-2 and 5-2 on April 15 and 18. Clatskanie went on to win the league title.

The round two matchup is set for 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 28 at Clatskanie High School.

Grant keeps bashing

No. 9 Grant, fresh off of winning the PIL title, stayed hot at the plate by bashing four home runs in its 6-0 win over No. 24 Forest Grove in round one of the 6A state playoffs Monday.

The Generals didn’t wait long as Kaeden Cruse doubled in the first, followed by a two-run home run from Diego Martinez Griffin. Immediately after that, Grant Snidow launched a solo shot to give Grant the 3-0 lead after one.

Generals ace Cooper Yudhishthu was on the bump and he went six innings, giving up only three hits with eight strikeouts and one walk.

It took a few more innings for Grant to find the scoreboard again, but it did in the bottom of the fifth when Elliot Raiton hit a two-run home run to left field, making it 5-0 Generals. Tre Hoffert would add a solo shot in the sixth to make it 6-0 Grant.

Cruse came in to close the game in the seventh, getting a couple ground balls and a fly out to send the Generals to round two.

Grant will hit the road for the next game as it will play No. 8 Roseburg in round two at a time still TBD on Wednesday, May 28.

Central Catholic in control

No. 3 Central Catholic left no doubt in its round one win over No. 30 Century, downing the Jaguars 12-0 in five innings without giving up a hit.

The Rams started the home half of the first by putting up a five-spot. Wyatt Brown singled to center to score one, which was followed by a three-RBI double from Matsen Saruwatari to make it 4-0 before an out was recorded.

Toussaint Kaptur hit a fly ball to left that scored Saruwatari on the sacrifice, setting the tone out of the gate with a 5-0 lead.

Senior Logan Anzellotti was on the mound and sat Century down in order in the second. Sam Smith opened the bottom half with a single and Aidan Rice doubled him home to make it 6-0. Brown picked up his second RBI of the day with a single to right that scored Rice.

Brown later doubled in the bottom of the fifth to plate another run. Jake Pachmayr hit an RBI single, Dexter Stremming hit an RBI double and Smith brought home the 12th run on a groundout.

Meanwhile Anzellotti was mowing through the Jaguars with good defense behind him, ultimately throwing five innings with no runs allowed and no hits while striking out five and walking two.

The Rams will stay home for round two as No. 14 Grants Pass comes to town at a time still to be determined on Wednesday, May 28.

Bad inning dooms Lincoln

Through the first three innings of No. 28 Lincoln’s matchup at No. 5 Jesuit, sophomore Jack Aleskus was in a great spot.

Outside of two singles and a walk, the sophomore was hanging tough with the perennial baseball power in the Crusaders.

Unfortunately, the fourth inning happened.

Jesuit started it off with two singles and a walk to load the bases. A sac fly scored the first run, followed by a two-RBI single.

Lincoln got the second out, but a double scored two more runs and another double brought home the sixth run. Next was an RBI single and Aleskus’ day was done.

Jesuit would get one more RBI single to make it 8-0 after the fourth, a hole the Cardinals couldn’t climb out of. Jesuit added one more run in the sixth to reach the 9-0 final.

Lincoln ended its season at 14-14 overall and finished tied for second place in the PIL.