CBC baseball in thick of playoff race despite inconsistent play
By Mark McKenna, Herald staff writer
Their defense has not been sharp, they've blown too many leads in the late innings and they're not swinging the bats with the consistency they'd like.

Still, the Columbia Basin College Hawks are in the thick of the NWAACC East baseball race. The Hawks, coming off Wednesday's doubleheader sweep of Big Bend, are sitting firmly in fourth place with a good chance to improve their playoff position.

The top four teams advance to the region's postseason tournament. The tournament champ, along with the regular-season winner, advance to the NWAACC tournament, which begins May 22 in Longview.

 As it stands now, CBC is 26-11 overall and 10-7 with 11 games remaining in the regular season. The Hawks trail Wenatchee Valley (24-4, 13-3), Treasure Valley (23-13, 11-5) and Walla Walla (21-12, 9-6) in the league standings.

CBC coach Scott Rogers, whose team is in the hunt for another trip to the NWAACCs where won they title in 2001 and 2006, is not focusing on the standings just yet.

"We're not saying we've got to win three out of our next four games or eight of our final 11; we're just concentrating on the next game," Rogers said. "Anybody can beat anybody in this league, so you can't look too far ahead."

Rogers hopes Wednesday's sweep, in which the Hawks scored 22 runs on 26 hits and committed only two errors, is the start of some consistent baseball. It was CBC's first series sweep since beating Big Bend twice March 26 in Moses Lake (CBC won the first game of a doubleheader against Walla Walla on April 16 in Pasco, but the nightcap was called because of darkness with the score tied at 4 in the 12th inning. It will be completed May 3).

"It was nice to play two games without self-destructing," Rogers said. "In five of our seven losses, we beat ourselves. In four of those games, we've blown three-run leads after the seventh inning. We missed flyballs, walked a ton of batters, things you just can't do if you want to win games. But maybe winning two games will get us going."

Rogers will find out Saturday when the Hawks travel to Pendleton to take on Blue Mountain (13-23, 6-12) for a double dip beginning at 1 p.m.

Softball

The CBC softball team is hoping to make a late move to sneak into the postseason. The Hawks (13-21, 8-10) trail Blue Mountain (13-18, 10-8) for the fourth and final playoff berth with 10 games left in the regular season.

"I said before the season that I thought a .500 league record would get us into the playoffs," said CBC coach Eric Weisgerber. "But this league us so tough, we might need to have a winning record."

The Hawks play a pair of doubleheaders this weekend. They entertain second-place Wenatchee Valley (31-9, 14-4) at 2 p.m. today, then play at Yakima Valley (14-20, 7-11) at noon Saturday.

"Every single game is important," Weisgerber said. "We just can't afford to lose any ground. If we can split this weekend, then we'll take our chances in the final six games."