ASTORIA TAKES TITLE IN 5-INNING ROUT
Astoria hit its first home run of the tournament on the way to its second win over Pendleton to earn its third straight North Oregon State Championship.
Max Johnson drove in six runs and Ian Dueber pitched five innings of 2-hit shutout ball as Astoria whacked Pendleton 11-0 in a dominating 14-year-old Tournament finale at Aiken Field.
The group of incoming freshman and one eighth grader will head to regionals for the third year in a row, beginning competition in Roseburg on August 4th. Last night Astoria showed why this year's team may be able to top the top four finishes of the last two years and move on to the World Series.
Ian Dueber and Erik Knutsen, two Seaside Babe Ruth players, joined forces with this year's Astoria All-stars. Their impact, along with the return of Zach Dursse, makes this year's team much stronger, deeper and more flexible than the teams that reached the regional semifinals last year and finals the previous summer.
Dueber pitched brilliantly Monday night, facing one over the minimum number of batters while fanning four and walking none. He also had a large cushion to rest on after the Astoria offense blew the game open early on.
Astoria put four runs on the board in the first inning, then tacked on five more in the second, capped by Johnson's 3-run home run down the line in left field. Johnson also doubled to deep center field in the first inning and knocked in the final Astoria run with another double in the third.
The Astoria centerfielder and pitcher was tabbed to start yesterday's championship in the mound, but opted out with a sore arm after throwing seven innings on Saturday. Frustrated at the plate throughout the tournament, Johnson got a hold of an Isaac Henslee pitch and drove it over the head of Pendleton centerfielder Torin Garza to the "Green Zone", the deepest part of Aiken Field. That scored Ian Erickson and Marcus Brown to give Astoria a 4-0 lead with none out in the first inning.
Pendleton did not look sharp yesterday, with Henslee lacking command on the hill and errors plaguing the left side of the infield. The Pendleton righthander hit Marc Gallegos with the first pitch of the game, then walked Trevor Couch and Ian Erickson on 3-2 pitches before Marcus Brown hit a ground ball to short that turned into an error scoring two runs.
A walk and an error put the first two batters aboard in the Astoria second inning. After a Couch bunt moved the runners up, Erickson beat out an infield hit to deep short to load the bases. Brown hit another grounder to short that got under the glove of Jake Talbot for another error, sending Dursse and Gallegos across the plate. Johnson jumped on a 2-0 Henslee fastball and sent it over the wall for a 3-run home run. That gave Astoria a 9-0 lead and the celebration was already starting.
Astoria banked the mercy-rule win by adding two more unearned runs in the third. An error started the inning and consecutive hits by Erickson, Brown and Johnson plated two more runs. Johnson's double dropped in front of the centerfielder Garza, who was playing so deep his back was almost touching the wall.
Pendleton's first hit was a soft liner to center by catcher Dannon Baker to lead off the third inning. Baker was caught stealing by Dueber, who threw behind the runner and first baseman Cody Strickland easily gunned him out at second base. Josh Ernst led off the fifth inning with a double, but Dueber retired the next three batters, handling the final out himself on a Baker dribbler to the left of the mound.
Johnson finished the game 3-for-3, Erickson went 2-for-2 with three runs scored and Strickland was 2-for-3 with a double.
Last year, Astoria's season ended in an extra inning loss against Roseburg in the regional semifinals. This year's Pacific Northwest Regional Tournament will be in the Roseburg area, hosted by Umpqua Valley. Another former nemesis will be there as Kennewick claimed the Southern Washington state championship with a win over Kelso on Sunday. Kennewick's 12-year-old Cal Ripken team defeated Astoria in the regional finals two years ago.
PENDLETON 0-0-0-0-0 0-2-4
ASTORIA 4-5-2-0-X 11-9-0
WP-Dueber (5ip, 2h, 0r, 0bb, 4k)
LP-Henslee (1.1ip, 3h, 8r, 2er, 3bb, k, hp)
E-Talbot 2, Ernst, Martinez. LOB-Pendleton 1, Astoria 5. 2B-Johnson 2, Strickland. HR-Johnson. SB-Gallegos, Couch 2, Brown. CS-Baker. S-Couch. DP-Pendleton 1. PB-Baker.
PENDLETON ab r h rbi
L. Fox lf 2 0 0 0
T. Jones lf 0 0 0 0
J. Talbot ss 2 0 0 0
R. Hamilton 1b 2 0 0 0
J. Ernst 3b 2 0 1 0
T. Garza cf 2 0 0 0
B. Tarter rf 1 0 0 0
K. Mecham rf 1 0 0 0
D. Baker c 2 0 1 0
I. Henslee p 0 0 0 0
K. Nooy p 1 0 0 0
K. Martinez 2b 1 0 0 0
ASTORIA ab r h rbi
M. Gallegos 2b 3 2 0 0
T. Couch lf 1 2 0 0
I. Erickson ss 2 3 2 0
M. Brown 3b 3 2 1 1
M. Johnson cf 3 0 3 6
D. Lund c 3 0 1 0
C. Strickland 1b 3 0 2 0
I. Dueber p 3 0 0 0
Z. Dursse rf 2 1 0 0
Max Johnson drove in six runs and Ian Dueber pitched five innings of 2-hit shutout ball as Astoria whacked Pendleton 11-0 in a dominating 14-year-old Tournament finale at Aiken Field.
The group of incoming freshman and one eighth grader will head to regionals for the third year in a row, beginning competition in Roseburg on August 4th. Last night Astoria showed why this year's team may be able to top the top four finishes of the last two years and move on to the World Series.
Ian Dueber and Erik Knutsen, two Seaside Babe Ruth players, joined forces with this year's Astoria All-stars. Their impact, along with the return of Zach Dursse, makes this year's team much stronger, deeper and more flexible than the teams that reached the regional semifinals last year and finals the previous summer.
Dueber pitched brilliantly Monday night, facing one over the minimum number of batters while fanning four and walking none. He also had a large cushion to rest on after the Astoria offense blew the game open early on.
Astoria put four runs on the board in the first inning, then tacked on five more in the second, capped by Johnson's 3-run home run down the line in left field. Johnson also doubled to deep center field in the first inning and knocked in the final Astoria run with another double in the third.
The Astoria centerfielder and pitcher was tabbed to start yesterday's championship in the mound, but opted out with a sore arm after throwing seven innings on Saturday. Frustrated at the plate throughout the tournament, Johnson got a hold of an Isaac Henslee pitch and drove it over the head of Pendleton centerfielder Torin Garza to the "Green Zone", the deepest part of Aiken Field. That scored Ian Erickson and Marcus Brown to give Astoria a 4-0 lead with none out in the first inning.
Pendleton did not look sharp yesterday, with Henslee lacking command on the hill and errors plaguing the left side of the infield. The Pendleton righthander hit Marc Gallegos with the first pitch of the game, then walked Trevor Couch and Ian Erickson on 3-2 pitches before Marcus Brown hit a ground ball to short that turned into an error scoring two runs.
A walk and an error put the first two batters aboard in the Astoria second inning. After a Couch bunt moved the runners up, Erickson beat out an infield hit to deep short to load the bases. Brown hit another grounder to short that got under the glove of Jake Talbot for another error, sending Dursse and Gallegos across the plate. Johnson jumped on a 2-0 Henslee fastball and sent it over the wall for a 3-run home run. That gave Astoria a 9-0 lead and the celebration was already starting.
Astoria banked the mercy-rule win by adding two more unearned runs in the third. An error started the inning and consecutive hits by Erickson, Brown and Johnson plated two more runs. Johnson's double dropped in front of the centerfielder Garza, who was playing so deep his back was almost touching the wall.
Pendleton's first hit was a soft liner to center by catcher Dannon Baker to lead off the third inning. Baker was caught stealing by Dueber, who threw behind the runner and first baseman Cody Strickland easily gunned him out at second base. Josh Ernst led off the fifth inning with a double, but Dueber retired the next three batters, handling the final out himself on a Baker dribbler to the left of the mound.
Johnson finished the game 3-for-3, Erickson went 2-for-2 with three runs scored and Strickland was 2-for-3 with a double.
Last year, Astoria's season ended in an extra inning loss against Roseburg in the regional semifinals. This year's Pacific Northwest Regional Tournament will be in the Roseburg area, hosted by Umpqua Valley. Another former nemesis will be there as Kennewick claimed the Southern Washington state championship with a win over Kelso on Sunday. Kennewick's 12-year-old Cal Ripken team defeated Astoria in the regional finals two years ago.
PENDLETON 0-0-0-0-0 0-2-4
ASTORIA 4-5-2-0-X 11-9-0
WP-Dueber (5ip, 2h, 0r, 0bb, 4k)
LP-Henslee (1.1ip, 3h, 8r, 2er, 3bb, k, hp)
E-Talbot 2, Ernst, Martinez. LOB-Pendleton 1, Astoria 5. 2B-Johnson 2, Strickland. HR-Johnson. SB-Gallegos, Couch 2, Brown. CS-Baker. S-Couch. DP-Pendleton 1. PB-Baker.
PENDLETON ab r h rbi
L. Fox lf 2 0 0 0
T. Jones lf 0 0 0 0
J. Talbot ss 2 0 0 0
R. Hamilton 1b 2 0 0 0
J. Ernst 3b 2 0 1 0
T. Garza cf 2 0 0 0
B. Tarter rf 1 0 0 0
K. Mecham rf 1 0 0 0
D. Baker c 2 0 1 0
I. Henslee p 0 0 0 0
K. Nooy p 1 0 0 0
K. Martinez 2b 1 0 0 0
ASTORIA ab r h rbi
M. Gallegos 2b 3 2 0 0
T. Couch lf 1 2 0 0
I. Erickson ss 2 3 2 0
M. Brown 3b 3 2 1 1
M. Johnson cf 3 0 3 6
D. Lund c 3 0 1 0
C. Strickland 1b 3 0 2 0
I. Dueber p 3 0 0 0
Z. Dursse rf 2 1 0 0
posted by Matt Richert at 6:01 AM
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