Century shakes up Pacific Conference standings with series win over Sherwood

Things just got interesting in the race for a Pacific Conference baseball title.

Century came from behind and defeated Sherwood 6-1 in their series finale on Friday, April 19, at Century High School, and in the process created a three-way tie between the Jaguars, Bowmen and McMinnville Grizzlies atop the league standings.

Jags head coach Mason Wright said the win was a testament to what his team and Century program have and are about.

“Friday’s game was a true test of our team and the commitment these guys have to our process, their belief in each other, and their unwavering team first attitude,” Wright said. “We focus on the present moment and not getting too high or too low in a game, so being down early isn’t necessarily something that changes our plan and process. This buy-in and commitment starts with our senior leadership and has spread down to our younger talented players as well, making this team pretty special to coach.”

Century was led by senior pitcher Elijah Breault who allowed one earned run on just four hits, while striking out 11 and walking none in a complete game, seven-inning masterpiece. Wright said like with the team, Breault has been putting in the work, and what you saw Friday evening was the fruits of his labor.

“Eli has been working extremely hard this year to take care of his body and dedicate himself to the team,” the Century coach said. “His performance on Friday is a direct result of that commitment. He is one of the more composed pitchers in our league and has electric stuff. We were all very happy for him to come out and perform the way he did.”

Sherwood scored their only run in the second inning when Liam Kliever singled to start the inning, then with two outs, pinch runner Caiden Gaunt scored on a Parker Fabrycki RBI-single to put the Bowmen ahead 1-0.

From there however, it was all Jags who evened things in the bottom of the third inning when after consecutive walks to start the inning, Levi Hazes singled home junior Sawyer Hewett to tie things 1-1.

But it was an inning later that the real damage was done, when Century scored five runs thanks to a handful of hits coupled with a series of Sherwood miscues.

From there, Breault did the rest, limiting Bowmen opportunities with a combination of control and varying speeds.

The win was the second straight for the Jaguars over Sherwood and came on the heels of a lopsided series-opening defeat to the highly touted Bowmen. But while big from a standings standpoint, Wright was quick to point to the next game and series as the most important going forward.

“Every win in conference is big, so we don’t take any team we play for granted and strive to be consistent every game we compete in,” the coach said. “Sherwood is a talented program, and we were able to execute our game plan and compete at a high level. So, yes, the win was big, but we are now moving on to prepare for another competitive series with Glencoe.”

Wright said his team gets that, and he in many ways has his senior group of Breault; Hazes; Phil Curry; Cam Smith; Sergio Osoria; Andruw Bradetich; Jace Chasteen; and Jonny Ellis to thank for that. But added that equally committed has been his younger group, spearheaded by sophomore Jace Willett; juniors Hewett, Lucas Gardner and Gavin Chesler; along with sophomores Diego Lopez and Damian Elizarraras.

“Our seniors set the tone daily for this program and lead by example,” Wright said. “But all these guys recognize the importance of our program philosophy, contribute to their specific roles, and model exactly what we expect of them as leaders.”

So, now on the heels of their big win and in a tie atop the standings, have the Jags’ goals changed? Not according to Wright who said they remain committed to doing things the way they always have.

“From the start, our goal has been to compete for a top-3 spot in our conference and make a playoff run,” Wright said. “We are very honest with our assessment of each other and what we need to work on as a team. With our win Friday, we are one step closer to our goals, but we know there is a lot of baseball yet to play.

Century faces Glencoe in a three-game series this week, while Sherwood will look to get back on track with a nonconference game against West Salem before facing that same Glencoe team next week.