There isn’t a whole lot a team can do when Central Catholic High School baseball gets on a roll like it did Wednesday, May 28 against Grants Pass in the second round of the 6A state tournament at Joe Etzel Field.

After a scoreless first inning, the Rams plated three runs in the second, four in the third and four more in the fourth to go up 11-0 and put the Cavemen down to their final three outs in the top of fifth.

And like freshman pitcher Sam Smith has done all season, he closed the door in the fifth to preserve the 11-0 run-rule victory and send the Rams to the quarterfinals. They’ll play No. 11 Sunset at 5 p.m.  Friday, May 30 at Walker Stadium.

“I think it’s kind of a trickle effect, a domino effect,” Central Catholic senior Lance McKey said. “When one guy does it, it’s easier and we all can. It builds on each other and we’re scoring runs.”

Central Catholic started the second inning off with Matsen Saruwatari reaching on an error, followed by two singles from Ryan Davis and Toussaint Kaptur.

Jake Pachmayr was up next and hit a sacrifice fly to right field to open the flood gates. After that, Dexter Stremming lined one to centerfield to score another run and Smith singled to right field to plate another.

It was three up, three down in the top of the third and the Rams went right back to mashing in the fourth.

Wyatt Brown doubled to left field to put runners on second and third with no outs, and Saruwatari was back and singled to center to score them both and make it 5-0.

Kaptur was up after a flyout and doubled to left to plate a run and then scored on a single by Pachmayr to left field, making it 7-0 Rams.

“There’s no weak spot in our lineup, we can hit 1-9,” McKey said. “Oftentimes our 5-9 hits better than 1-4.”

In the bottom of the fourth, the Rams loaded the bases with no outs and saw Davis drill a ball to the left field corner and off the wall, scoring two runs. Kaptur grounded out after but brought home a run on the out and the final run came on another sac fly to right field from Pachmayr.

While the line drives are a nice sight, what head coach Justin Bachus was most happy with were the runs grinded out via sacrifices or a ground out.

“I think the stuff I’m more excited about are the sac flies with two strikes and the ground balls to score runs, things we really preach and work on and seeing them execute them,” Bachus said. “The line drives are great, they’re feeling good and seeing the ball well. But the execution of stuff we’ve been working on is really exciting.”

Smith, just a freshman making his first postseason start, was torched in his last outing of the regular season to the tune of eight runs, six earned, in a 9-0 loss to Clackamas.

Coming into the game against Grants Pass, it would have been easy for the freshman to carry over the bad outing into his next.

Instead, Smith threw all five innings and gave up no runs on four hits with three strikeouts and one walk.

That performance comes on the heels of a 12-0 round one win where senior pitcher Logan Anzellotti didn’t give up a single hit against Century in five innings.

“As a freshman, to come back from that and to have the maturity to come back out and have the confidence in himself to be able to get that showing (is incredible),” Bachus said. “Him and (Anzellotti) have obviously been really good all year for us. They just continued it into the playoffs, so we’re excited about it.

“The thing about them too is they trust their defense. I argue we have one of the best defenses in the state.”

No one would argue against that after seeing the second-inning play that truly changed the course of the game.

With runners on first and second and two outs, Grants Pass floated a ball between left and center where McKey was racing to his right. The senior laid out for the grab and was able to snag it right before it hit the ground, saving two runs and opening the door for the Rams to start piling on their own.

That’s what it’s been like all year for the Mt. Hood Conference champions and now 23-4 Rams. Their spot in the quarterfinals is the furthest they’ve been since making the championship game in 2019.

For the 13-deep senior class though, this marks the furthest they’ve made it in state during their prep careers, continuing a memorable year for the program-defining group.

“We have a huge bond of brothership,” McKey said. “We’re the type of team where we don’t just see each other at practice. We hang out every weekend and our environment in the dugout, our brothership is great.”

It’ll be Sunset in the quarterfinals, a team that finished runnerups last year and have plenty of experience back from that squad.

The Rams know the games will only get harder from here, but they feel ready for the challenge because no matter what, they’ve already left a mark on the program.

“(The seniors) have been a huge catalyst towards what we’ve wanted to turn the culture of the program in to,” Bachus said. “I was telling my coaches out there that I’m not scared of losing, I dread the last day I get to spend with this group.

“They’ve been a joy to work with and I hope we can hang out for a couple more games.”

Grant wins on the road

There was no quit in the No. 9 Grant baseball team or starting pitcher Jinki Tomita down south against No. 8 Roseburg after giving up a three-spot in the first inning.

A couple walks, a wild pitch and two hits helped Roseburg score all three of those runs, but it would only have four more baserunners after it with no more hits.

Tomita locked in and went six innings, giving up three runs on the two hits with seven strikeouts and five walks.

Meanwhile the offense stayed patient and chipped away when they could, starting with two runs in the fourth.

Elliot Raiton and Kaeden Cruse opened the frame with singles and Diego Martinez Griffin brought them both home with a single to left field.

In the sixth, Martinez Griffin singled again and was followed by two walks to load the bases with one out. Tre Hoffert singled on a hard ground ball to shortstop, scoring the game-tying run.

And in the top of the seventh, Brady McCarthy led off with a walk, moved to second on a wild pitch and Raiton doubled to centerfield to plate the run.

Cruse took to the mound to close the game and sat Roseburg down in order with a strikeout and two grounders.

The win sends Grant to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2017 where it will take on No. 1 South Salem who survived 12-11 in eight innings against No. 16 Sheldon.

The two played earlier this year with the Saxons winning 10-3, but they didn’t see Grant ace Cooper Yudhishthu, who is likely to start on Friday, May 30. Game time and location are still TBD.

Portland Christian stuns in 2A/1A

Possibly the biggest upset of any classification’s tournament this spring went down with No. 19 Portland Christian going on the road to beat league foe No. 3 Clatskanie 8-3.

The Royals won a wild 15-14 game at Union/Cove on Monday and used up the pitching arms of their top two guys in seniors Jack Mazurowski and Joseph Diesel.

That left junior Noah Humphrey for the start on the bump against a Clatskanie team that swept PC in their three-game regular season series.

The Royals gave him some early help, scoring a run in the top of the first thanks to an RBI single from Evan Satre.

PC got a double play in home half and did some real damage in the top of the second with five more runs.

PC loaded the bases with one out when Donovan Endres wore one at the plate to bring a run across. Mazurowski was next and singled to left field to plate two more.

After a pop out, Satre was up again and singled again to score the fifth run of the game. An error off the bat of Pasquele Walker brought home the fifth run of the inning and made it 6-0 Royals.

PC tacked on a run in the third on a sac fly from Mazurowski and another in the fourth on a double from Thomas Cosgrove, making it 8-0 PC heading to the bottom of the fourth.

Humphrey got out of the fourth clean as the Royals looked to be cruising. However, the Tigers came back with three runs in the fifth to keep things interesting.

The bats went cold for PC, but it didn’t matter as the only Tiger to reach in the sixth was on an error, and two singles weren’t enough in the seventh as Humphrey trusted his defense to make all three outs.

Humphrey threw the game of his young life, throwing all seven innings with three runs, one earned, off of seven hits with one strikeout and one walk.

Mazurowski, who has been the catalyst for the Royals baseball turnaround over the past few years, went 2-for-5 with three RBI.

The win sends the Royals to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2014, which was also their last postseason appearance prior to this season.

This time the road warriors will head to the coast and south as they take on No. 6 Reedsport on Friday, May 30. Time is still to be determined.