EUGENE – After a rainy start Saturday afternoon, the sun finally peeked through the dark clouds at PK Park during the Class 5A state championship baseball game.

By that time, though, it was the third inning, and things couldn’t have been more dreary in the Thurston dugout.

Everything was going wrong for the Colts. They were trailing 6-0, they had already committed three errors, their star player – Oregon State-commit Grady Saunders – had just left the game after a nagging hamstring injury flared up as he was chasing a foul ball – and they were still searching for their first hit against Central junior right-hander Joe Mendazona.

That search would continue for the remainder of the game, as Mendazona mowed down state powerhouse Thurston. He ended the game in grand style, striking out the side in the seventh inning to finish with 14 strikeouts while recording the fourth no-hitter in OSAA state title game history, as No. 6-ranked Central defeated No. 8 Thurston, 7-0.

“He did a helluva job keeping us off balance; we didn’t make any hard contact today and I give him props,” Thurston coach Dennis Minium said. “Losing Grady early in the game was deflating for us but overall I give our team props for where we ended up after where we started. The hard work and the dedication they put in as a team and worrying about the team instead of themselves … it’s not the way we wanted the season to end, but we got here, and the motivation for the young guys to make it here, hopefully we’ll be back again next year.

“We’ve been fortunate enough to make it here three of the last four years (winning state titles in 2023 and ‘24) – that’s pretty special in its own right.

They’re deflated – just look at them – but I hope this is motivation coming into this summer. … I’m looking forward to seeing how our offseason progresses. Hopefully this lights a fire under some of them and they’ll want to get back here.”

After striking out Saunders to start the game, Mendazona said he knew Saturday was going to be his day.

“Oh yeah, after striking out the first batter, we’re buddies, I know him well, and I know he’s the best player on the team, and really after I struck out the side in the first inning, I knew it was going to be a good day,” Mendazona said.

The Colts didn’t see any changeups Saturday. Actually, they didn’t get a very good look at many of his fastballs either.

“I was just throwing it by guys pretty much,” said Mendazona, whose fastball topped out at 93 mph Saturday. “I might have tried to hit the inside corner or outside corner a couple of times when it was 0-2 or 1-2, but for the most part I was just trying to dial it in there.”

Oddly enough, pitching isn’t even Mendazona’s best position. He’s committed to play at TCU – as a catcher.

“I pitch a little during summer ball around the country, but I’m usually a catcher,” he said. “I injured my knee playing football, so I only played 45% of this season. I love football. But now that I’m committed to TCU, I’m just playing baseball, I’m not playing any more football or basketball.”

Central, which previously won state titles in 1958 and 2019, will be glad to have him fully focused on baseball, especially since it loses just one senior this season. The Panthers were a young team when they faced Thurston two years ago as the 16-seed and got thumped by Thurston.

“Two years ago we were still building the culture here and we were the 16-seed and we played Thurston and they 10-run-ruled us,” Mendazona said.

“Then last year we missed the playoffs, so we’ve been waiting on this for a while. This was definitely a payback game. It just took us a while to pay them back.”

When Mendazona struck out Levi Woodman to end the game, the Central players and bench erupted with joy as they began celebrating their state championship.

“It was awesome,” Mendazona said of the dogpile. “When I got to the bottom of the pile it was a little hard to breathe there with all of that weight on my chest. To have all these guys around me to enjoy this moment was awesome.”

Minium and the Colts could only tip their caps.

“Joe kept us off balance and we’ll move on,” Minium said. “We’ll get better and hopefully we’ll be back next year.”