CAMAS — Call him Big Game Biggs.
With a chance to clinch the Class 4A Greater St. Helens League baseball title on Friday, Mountain View turned to Colin Biggs.
The senior delivered with his arm and bat in a 3-0 win over Camas.
Biggs allowed just three hits, one walk and let only one baserunner get as far as second base. He struck out five in an 86-pitch complete game.
His one-out triple sparked a three-run rally in the seventh inning as Mountain View clinched its first league title since 2013.
“He’s a competitor,” Mountain View coach Aaron Coiteux said of Biggs. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the first game of the season or the last with a league title on the line. He’s going to give you everything he has. That’s why he pitched this game.”
Mountain View (13-4) clinched the league title with one game to spare.
Camas (11-6) needed to win Friday and beat Mountain View again Monday to keep its title hopes alive. The Papermakers are in second place one game ahead of Battle Ground, which owns the head-to-head tiebreaker with Camas and plays Evergreen on Monday.
As league champs, Mountain View gets an automatic berth in the district title game May 7 and a spot in the regional round of the state tournament.
The league’s second-place team plays a loser out game on May 6 with a spot in the title game and a state berth on the line.
The third-through-sixth teams must win three straight in the district tournament to reach the title game.
Hoping to wrap up the title Friday, Biggs threw strikes and trusted the defense behind him.
“My curveball and fastball, just two basic pitches,” he said. “I felt like I had a handle on those.”
For much of the game, Camas pitcher Tucker Parker matched Biggs frame for scoreless frame.
It wasn’t until the final inning that Mountain View broke through. With one out and nobody on, Biggs hit a line drive to the fence in left-center field for a triple.
“My coach doesn’t like me going after high fastballs, but that’s what it was and I hit it,” he said. “When I got to third, he just said ‘nice hit.'”
Grant Francis drove Biggs home with a sharp single to left. Mountain View would score twice more on two-out hits by Christian Maddox, Spencer Warner and Kyle Moen.
Biggs retired Camas in order in the bottom of the seventh. He was helped by third baseman Jake Ryan, who leapt to grab a sharp line drive off the bat of Parker.
After the final out, Mountain View’s players mobbed Biggs, one of 12 seniors on the team.
Mountain View, which was 6-4, has won seven straight games.
“The league is pretty darn competitive from the last team to us,” Coiteux said. “We had a little rough patch. We had to refocus and we did that.”
MOUNTAIN VIEW 3, CAMAS 0
Mt. View 000 000 3–3 8 0
Camas 000 000 0–0 3 0
Mountain View
Pitching — Colin Biggs 7 IP, 5 K, 1 BB; Highlights — Colin Biggs 2-3, 3B, R; Kyle Moen 2-4, RBI; Preston Jones 1-3; Grant Francis, 1-3, R, RBI; Christian Maddox 1-3, Spencer Warner 1-3.
Camas
Pitching — Tucker Parker 7 IP, 4 K, 1 BB; Highlights — Tucker Parker 1-3; Sam Christopher 1-2; Luke Grindy 1-2.
