ASTORIA TO SEMIS IN 10-INNING THRILLER
For the second straight day, the Astoria 14-year-old Babe Ruth All-stars won in dramatic fashion, scoring two runs in the bottom of the tenth inning to ward off a huge upset in a 4-3 quarterfinal victory at the North Oregon State Tournament.
Ian Erickson's double to right over a drawn-in outfield scored Marcus Brown and Max Johnson with the game winning runs.
Astoria, in pursuit of its third consecutive state championship, will meet Tri-County at 1:00 p.m. at Aiken Field in today's semifinals.
Astoria starting pitcher Max Johnson carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning with a 2-0 lead, but S.E. Portland would load the bases with nobody out. Johnson's mound counterpart, Rudy Johnson, sent a sharp grounder up the middle that deflected off Johnson to second baseman Marc Gallegos, whose throw home was late and wild, allowing Eli Kimball to score. Alex Kehdi came around third and appeared to be out at the plate after catcher Dane Lund retrieved the ball and dived back to apply the tag. But the ball was jarred loose in the collision and S.E. Portland had tied the score at two.
With runners at first and third and one out, S.E. Portland tried a double steal, but shortstop Marcus Brown returned Lund's throw in time to get Abe Cabatic trying to score from third. McKenzie Jones grounded back to the mound to end the inning.
Meanwhile Rudy Corbett, pitching on two days rest after a workhorse complete game effort on Thursday, continued to baffle the Astoria bats. After back-to-back RBI doubles in the first inning by Brown and Johnson gave Astoria an early lead, Corbett held the Clatsop-Pacific County All-stars at bay. Astoria's only real offensive threat came in the fourth inning, when Cody Strickland drove a 1-0 pitch to the wall in right field for a 1-out triple. But Corbett fanned Ian Dueber and retired Jake Hatcher on a groundout to first base to end the threat.
Both teams went down in order in the seventh inning, putting the game into extra innings and forcing pitching changes for both teams according to Babe Ruth rules.
With Ian Dueber taking over on the mound for Johnson, S.E. Portland's speedy leadoff man Michael Holly beat out an infield hit off to start the eighth, but was gunned down trying to take an extra base on Eli Kimball's sacrifce bunt. Dueber threw out Kimball and Hatcher, playing first base, double-clutched before throwing across the diamond to Strickland, who applied the tag just in time to get Holly.
Astoria put the game-winning run on second base with nobody out in the bottom of the inning when Holly, in relief of Corbett, issued back-to-back walks to Lund and Brown to start the frame. In came lefthander McKenzie Jones, who got Max Johnson to fly out sharply to center field, got Erickson to ground into a force out at third base and induced a pop up from Cody Strickland to put out the fire.
A fire was raging in the S.E. Portland ninth inning as they loaded the bases with nobody out on an Abe Cabatic single, an error and a bunt base hit by Jones. But Jack Lavey's line drive found the glove of Hatcher at first base, Brandon Berkey struck out looking and Travis Popper lived up to his name, popping out to Hatcher in foul territory.
After a scoreless Astoria ninth, Southeast would again jam the sacks with nobody out on two hit batters and a walk. This time, they would push a run across when Cabatic's grounder to short skipped off Brown's glove for an error. Astoria would get a huge double play, though, when Corbett's grounder took Strickland to the bag at third for a 5-3 twin killing. Jones struck out to end the inning with Southeast leading 3-2 on the verge of a huge upset.
But Astoria's bats finally came alive in the tenth. With one out, Brown singled and stole second. Max Johnson followed with a base hit to center and took second on the throw home as Brown wisely put the brakes on at third. That set up Erickson to be the hero. With rightfielder Propper drawn in close for a potential play at the plate, Erickson drove the ball hard to rightfield well over the head of Propper for the walk-off hit.
S.E. PORTLAND 0-0-0-0-0-2-0-0-0-1 3-5-0
ASTORIA 2-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-2 4-11-4
WP-Dueber (3ip, 3h, r, 0er, bb, k, 2hp)
LP-Jones (2ip, 4h, 2er, 0bb, k, wp)
E-Brown 2, Johnson, Gallegos, Strickland. LOB-S.E. Portland 9, Astoria 9. 2B-Brown, Johnson, Erickson. 3B-Strickland. SB-Corbett, Holly, Brown 2, Gallegos. CS-Cabatic. DP-Astoria 1. PB-Lund.
Ian Erickson's double to right over a drawn-in outfield scored Marcus Brown and Max Johnson with the game winning runs.
Astoria, in pursuit of its third consecutive state championship, will meet Tri-County at 1:00 p.m. at Aiken Field in today's semifinals.
Astoria starting pitcher Max Johnson carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning with a 2-0 lead, but S.E. Portland would load the bases with nobody out. Johnson's mound counterpart, Rudy Johnson, sent a sharp grounder up the middle that deflected off Johnson to second baseman Marc Gallegos, whose throw home was late and wild, allowing Eli Kimball to score. Alex Kehdi came around third and appeared to be out at the plate after catcher Dane Lund retrieved the ball and dived back to apply the tag. But the ball was jarred loose in the collision and S.E. Portland had tied the score at two.
With runners at first and third and one out, S.E. Portland tried a double steal, but shortstop Marcus Brown returned Lund's throw in time to get Abe Cabatic trying to score from third. McKenzie Jones grounded back to the mound to end the inning.
Meanwhile Rudy Corbett, pitching on two days rest after a workhorse complete game effort on Thursday, continued to baffle the Astoria bats. After back-to-back RBI doubles in the first inning by Brown and Johnson gave Astoria an early lead, Corbett held the Clatsop-Pacific County All-stars at bay. Astoria's only real offensive threat came in the fourth inning, when Cody Strickland drove a 1-0 pitch to the wall in right field for a 1-out triple. But Corbett fanned Ian Dueber and retired Jake Hatcher on a groundout to first base to end the threat.
Both teams went down in order in the seventh inning, putting the game into extra innings and forcing pitching changes for both teams according to Babe Ruth rules.
With Ian Dueber taking over on the mound for Johnson, S.E. Portland's speedy leadoff man Michael Holly beat out an infield hit off to start the eighth, but was gunned down trying to take an extra base on Eli Kimball's sacrifce bunt. Dueber threw out Kimball and Hatcher, playing first base, double-clutched before throwing across the diamond to Strickland, who applied the tag just in time to get Holly.
Astoria put the game-winning run on second base with nobody out in the bottom of the inning when Holly, in relief of Corbett, issued back-to-back walks to Lund and Brown to start the frame. In came lefthander McKenzie Jones, who got Max Johnson to fly out sharply to center field, got Erickson to ground into a force out at third base and induced a pop up from Cody Strickland to put out the fire.
A fire was raging in the S.E. Portland ninth inning as they loaded the bases with nobody out on an Abe Cabatic single, an error and a bunt base hit by Jones. But Jack Lavey's line drive found the glove of Hatcher at first base, Brandon Berkey struck out looking and Travis Popper lived up to his name, popping out to Hatcher in foul territory.
After a scoreless Astoria ninth, Southeast would again jam the sacks with nobody out on two hit batters and a walk. This time, they would push a run across when Cabatic's grounder to short skipped off Brown's glove for an error. Astoria would get a huge double play, though, when Corbett's grounder took Strickland to the bag at third for a 5-3 twin killing. Jones struck out to end the inning with Southeast leading 3-2 on the verge of a huge upset.
But Astoria's bats finally came alive in the tenth. With one out, Brown singled and stole second. Max Johnson followed with a base hit to center and took second on the throw home as Brown wisely put the brakes on at third. That set up Erickson to be the hero. With rightfielder Propper drawn in close for a potential play at the plate, Erickson drove the ball hard to rightfield well over the head of Propper for the walk-off hit.
S.E. PORTLAND 0-0-0-0-0-2-0-0-0-1 3-5-0
ASTORIA 2-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-2 4-11-4
WP-Dueber (3ip, 3h, r, 0er, bb, k, 2hp)
LP-Jones (2ip, 4h, 2er, 0bb, k, wp)
E-Brown 2, Johnson, Gallegos, Strickland. LOB-S.E. Portland 9, Astoria 9. 2B-Brown, Johnson, Erickson. 3B-Strickland. SB-Corbett, Holly, Brown 2, Gallegos. CS-Cabatic. DP-Astoria 1. PB-Lund.
posted by Matt Richert at 8:50 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home