CBC baseball finally hits road
PASCO -- It has taken nearly a month -- and 18 games -- but the Columbia Basin College baseball team is hitting the road, going all the way to Pendleton (70 miles) today to take on Blue Mountain for a pair of NWAACC East games.
The Hawks (7-11) split their East openers with Yakima Valley on Wednesday, in the process snapping a six-game losing streak. The Timberwolves (5-12) lost a pair to Treasure Valley on Wednesay and come in having lost four in a row and six out of seven.
CBC is starting to find the offense, scoring 22 runs in its last three games after averaging 4.7 before that. Moreover, take away 14- and 10-run games, and the Hawks were averaging 3.5 per contest.
The Hawks are starting to take advantage of what other teams are giving them, averaging more than six free bases a game (walks or hit batters).
Joey Jansen had hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games before going 0-for-4 in the second game against Yakima. During that span, he more than tripled his batting average (from .111 to .371, now at .348).
Zach Rapacz has a five-game hit streak and seven out of eight, raising his average from .143 to a modest .243. His five doubles lead the team.
Chris Cecil has hit in six out of eight, four of those multi-hit games, to boost his average from .200 to a team-high .361.
On the bump, Arty Reyes has just two wins in his five starts, but CBC has won four of those games. His 2.98 ERA is tops on the team for pitchers with 10 or more innings. Austin Thornhill has a 1.35 ERA in seven innings of relief, and Brandon Call is unscored upon in three relief appearances.
Defensively, the Hawks are averaging just under three errors a game but have six games with four or more errors. However, they are coming off their first clean game of the season, and just the third time they had fewer errors than their opponent.
* Kevin Anthony: 509-582-1403; kanthony@tricityherald.com
This story was originally published March 31, 2012 at 12:00 AM with the headline "CBC baseball finally hits road."