It began as an inning the Mountain View baseball team would rather forget.
There were two outs and nobody on base. A Mountain View runner had been picked off. Another had been caught stealing.
But when the second inning was finally over, six Thunder runs had scored.
That was all the offense Mountain View needed to beat Battle Ground 8-0 Friday and improve to 2-0 in the 4A Greater St. Helens League.
Mountain View has shown it can score in bunches. Between Wednesday’s 9-1 victory over Union and Friday’s win, Mountain View has scored 14 of its 17 runs in just three innings.
Thunderstruck indeed. And Mountain View’s bats can rumble even when there are two outs.
“They don’t give up,” Mountain View coach Aaron Coiteux said. “We’ve got a bunch of seniors who are excited for this year. They’re taking it upon themselves, regardless of what happens, to keep competing from the first pitch to the last pitch.”
Mountain View has 12 seniors, many of whom are in their third season of varsity baseball.
That leadership has influenced players such as Trevor Moore, a junior who pitched four shutout innings Friday.
“I just like the heart we have,” Moore said. “We kind of live by that one-game-at-a-time mindset.”
Moore struck out five and allowed two hits as a strong gusty wind blew straight in toward home plate.
“If you’re upbeat and throwing strikes, it’s a lot easier to play baseball,” Coiteux said. “(Moore) did a great job of getting his mind right and not letting the environment or the conditions affect him.”
In the second inning, Mountain View loaded with bases with two outs thanks to an error, a single and a walk.
Austin Hamilton then drew a bases loaded walk. Colin Biggs drove in another run with a single.
That set the table from Grant Francis. The left-handed sophomore cleared the bases with a double down the left field line.
“I saw a fastball on the outer half and I just took it that way,” Francis said.
It was an example of good fundamental hitting. That’s something Francis said has rubbed off from the team’s seniors.
“The seniors are everything to this ballclub,” he said. “They tell us what to do and we get it done.”
Six runs in the second inning gave Mountain View a 7-0 lead. The Thunder added a run in the fourth when Biggs drove in Hamilton with a single.
Christian Maddox went 3-for-3 and Biggs finished 2-for-4.
Battle Ground fell to 1-2 in league play. Isaiah Smith, a returning second-team all-state outfielder, went 2-for-3.
The Tigers no longer have Mike Spellacy, who was a first-team all-state outfielder last season and has verbally committed to Gonzaga. The junior moved to Puyallup in February.
MOUNTAIN VIEW 8, BATTLE GROUND 0
B.Ground 000 000 0—0 5 4
M.View 160 100 x—8 8 1
Battle Ground (1-2, 1-2)
Pitching — McDaniel 1.2 IP, 2 K; Volkidus 4 IP, 2 H, 2 K, Hertner 0.1 IP; Highlights — Smith 2-3; Parrish 1-3; Humphrey 2-3.
Mountain View (2-2, 2-0)
Pitching — Moore 4 IP, 2 H, 5 K; Milton 3 IP, 3 H, 2 K; Highlights — Sablan 1-4, 2 R; Maddox 3-3, R; Hamilton 2 R, RBI; Biggs 2-4, R, 2 RBI; Francis 1-2, R, 4 RBI; Allison 1-4.
