ASTORIA OFF TO 2-0 COWAPA START
The sun was out Thursday at Aiken Field and the Astoria Fishermen shined in nearly every facet of their game on the way to their sixth consecutive victory.
The Fishermen defeated the Seaside Seagulls for the second time this week, winning 9-2 to improve to 2-0 in Cowapa League and 6-3 overall.
Seaside played a much sharper game than Tuesday's 5-error debacle, despite losing three players, all pitchers, to an athletic code violation committed during spring break. Mitch De Gandi made his third straight appearance on the mound in an emergency starter's role, taking the loss as the Gulls fell to 0-2 and 4-6 overall.
"You take those first three innings on Tuesday and there's nowhere else to go but up from that," said Seaside head coach Joel Dierickx.
Astoria jumped ahead with five first inning runs and never looked back, but if not for some stellar defense by 3rd-team All-state sophomore outfielder Jordan Poyer, the game could have taken on a completely different complexion.
The Seagulls shuffled their lineup, returning senior outfielder Will Beatty to the leadoff spot. Beatty reached on a fielding error, then stole second base to lead off the game. Senior outfielder Mark Thysell followed with an opposite field shot to deep right field off Astoria starting pitcher Nick Bredleau. Poyer, playing shallow and shaded toward center field, made a spectacular, full-speed diving catch going back and toward the line in the right field corner to rob Thysell of an RBI extra base hit. With runners on first and third after De Gandi walked, Ben Christianson flied out to Poyer, who gunned a perfect strike to catcher Brendan Landwehr to nail Beatty by nearly ten feet trying to score, ending the Gulls threat.
"The first inning could have gone a lot differently," said Astoria head coach Dave Gasser, who had moved Poyer from right field to third base to start the season, before returning his star soph to his natural habitat. "Two putouts and an assist by the right fielder in the first inning. You've gotta go to a lot of games to see that!"
Poyer's neighbor in the outfield, 2nd-team all-stater Brent Culver, got the Fishermen first started with a hustle double down the left field line. Culver would advance to third on a routine ground out to the left side, later scoring when catcher Ross Knutsen's throw back to the mound went astray for an error. Culver would have scored anyhow, because Landwehr rocketed an opposite field double to the wall in right field. Poyer drew a walk and a wild pitch and stolen base put runners and second and third with two outs. Adam Koehnke hit a grounder to short that should have ended the inning, but it went off promising sophomore shortstop Jeremy Carow's glove for an error, scoring two runs. A hit batter and an infield hit loaded the bases before Koehnke stole home for the fourth run of the inning. Hans Lund's RBI single scored Joey Dursse to make it 5-0 Fishermen
Second baseman Jon Giztavich led off the Seaside second inning with a home run to right center field, finding the spot where the fence juts in ahead of a light pole to deposit the first round tripper of his career. On the play, Culver deposited himself headfirst on the other side of the wall in a vain attempt to make the catch.
"Brent continues to be the straw that stirs our drink," said Gasser. "In big games, when he gets it going, he gets you every way but loose. He hits the ball hard, takes extra bases and steals bases."
"What more can you ask of a leadoff hitter?"
Based on Culver's 4-for-4, three run, two stolen base effort on the day, not much. Culver set the table again in the second inning, beating out an infield hit and stealing second base. Matt Brause followed with a rocket to left-center field for an RBI triple and scored on Brendan Landwehr's sacrifice fly to center field.
Landwehr's bat has been a little slow to get going after injuring a thumb in the first game of Astoria's win streak, a 17-0 victory at Clatskanie. The senior all-league backstop appears to be finding his groove. Landwehr went 2-for-2 with three well-struck balls and two runners caught stealing back-to-back in the fifth inning.
"Not only is he fine defensively, but he's got a lot more pop than most catchers do," said Gasser. "He plays hard. He plays very respectfully. I think he's come a long way and he's still got a great upside in terms of how much better he can be down the road. He's the kind of guy that will play after high school."
The Fishermen took a 9-1 lead in the fourth inning, which was plenty for Bredleau, who pitched into the sixth inning to pick up his third victory of the season. The Gulls began to figure out the senior righthander in the sixth, leading off the inning with three straight hits, the first off the bat of Mark Thysell sending reserve right fielder Sam Johnson crashing into the wall. Thysell ended up with a triple and scored on a base hit by De Gandi. Jordan Poyer came on with the bases loaded and induced a comebacker from Matt Mizell for the final out, pitching a scoreless seventh inning with one strikeout to close out the win.
Despite the loss, Dierickx was much happier with his team's showing.
"We played the game hard and made some mistakes, but no mental mistakes for the most part. Just physical mistakes. Astoria's just an outstanding team. What more can you say?"
The Gulls will have their pitching depth severely tested, facing Clatskanie at Broadway Field in a non-league doubleheader Friday. Astoria is off until Tuesday, when the Fishermen head to Tillamook to take on the Cheesemakers, who opened league play with a 9-7 win over Yamhill-Carlton, but were shut down 10-0 in five innings by the Tigers on Thursday.
ESPN Radio's first live broadcast of the season comes up next Thursday, when the Fishermen host the Cheesemakers at Aiken Field.
SEASIDE 0-1-0-0-0-1-0 2-6-2
ASTORIA 5-2-0-2-0-0-X 9-10-2
WP-Bredleau (5.2 ip, 6h, 2er, 2k, 4bb, hp)
LP-De Gandi (5ip, 10h, 9r, 5er, 3k, 3bb, hp, 2wp)
E-Knutsen, Carow, Jawarski, Davis. LOB-Seaside 7, Astoria 6. 2B-Culver, Landwehr. 3B-Thysell, Matt Brause. HR-Giztavich. SB-Beatty, Poyer, Koehnke 2, Culver 2, Matt Brause, Johnson. SF-Landwehr. DP-Astoria 2. PB-Knutsen.
The Fishermen defeated the Seaside Seagulls for the second time this week, winning 9-2 to improve to 2-0 in Cowapa League and 6-3 overall.
Seaside played a much sharper game than Tuesday's 5-error debacle, despite losing three players, all pitchers, to an athletic code violation committed during spring break. Mitch De Gandi made his third straight appearance on the mound in an emergency starter's role, taking the loss as the Gulls fell to 0-2 and 4-6 overall.
"You take those first three innings on Tuesday and there's nowhere else to go but up from that," said Seaside head coach Joel Dierickx.
Astoria jumped ahead with five first inning runs and never looked back, but if not for some stellar defense by 3rd-team All-state sophomore outfielder Jordan Poyer, the game could have taken on a completely different complexion.
The Seagulls shuffled their lineup, returning senior outfielder Will Beatty to the leadoff spot. Beatty reached on a fielding error, then stole second base to lead off the game. Senior outfielder Mark Thysell followed with an opposite field shot to deep right field off Astoria starting pitcher Nick Bredleau. Poyer, playing shallow and shaded toward center field, made a spectacular, full-speed diving catch going back and toward the line in the right field corner to rob Thysell of an RBI extra base hit. With runners on first and third after De Gandi walked, Ben Christianson flied out to Poyer, who gunned a perfect strike to catcher Brendan Landwehr to nail Beatty by nearly ten feet trying to score, ending the Gulls threat.
"The first inning could have gone a lot differently," said Astoria head coach Dave Gasser, who had moved Poyer from right field to third base to start the season, before returning his star soph to his natural habitat. "Two putouts and an assist by the right fielder in the first inning. You've gotta go to a lot of games to see that!"
Poyer's neighbor in the outfield, 2nd-team all-stater Brent Culver, got the Fishermen first started with a hustle double down the left field line. Culver would advance to third on a routine ground out to the left side, later scoring when catcher Ross Knutsen's throw back to the mound went astray for an error. Culver would have scored anyhow, because Landwehr rocketed an opposite field double to the wall in right field. Poyer drew a walk and a wild pitch and stolen base put runners and second and third with two outs. Adam Koehnke hit a grounder to short that should have ended the inning, but it went off promising sophomore shortstop Jeremy Carow's glove for an error, scoring two runs. A hit batter and an infield hit loaded the bases before Koehnke stole home for the fourth run of the inning. Hans Lund's RBI single scored Joey Dursse to make it 5-0 Fishermen
Second baseman Jon Giztavich led off the Seaside second inning with a home run to right center field, finding the spot where the fence juts in ahead of a light pole to deposit the first round tripper of his career. On the play, Culver deposited himself headfirst on the other side of the wall in a vain attempt to make the catch.
"Brent continues to be the straw that stirs our drink," said Gasser. "In big games, when he gets it going, he gets you every way but loose. He hits the ball hard, takes extra bases and steals bases."
"What more can you ask of a leadoff hitter?"
Based on Culver's 4-for-4, three run, two stolen base effort on the day, not much. Culver set the table again in the second inning, beating out an infield hit and stealing second base. Matt Brause followed with a rocket to left-center field for an RBI triple and scored on Brendan Landwehr's sacrifice fly to center field.
Landwehr's bat has been a little slow to get going after injuring a thumb in the first game of Astoria's win streak, a 17-0 victory at Clatskanie. The senior all-league backstop appears to be finding his groove. Landwehr went 2-for-2 with three well-struck balls and two runners caught stealing back-to-back in the fifth inning.
"Not only is he fine defensively, but he's got a lot more pop than most catchers do," said Gasser. "He plays hard. He plays very respectfully. I think he's come a long way and he's still got a great upside in terms of how much better he can be down the road. He's the kind of guy that will play after high school."
The Fishermen took a 9-1 lead in the fourth inning, which was plenty for Bredleau, who pitched into the sixth inning to pick up his third victory of the season. The Gulls began to figure out the senior righthander in the sixth, leading off the inning with three straight hits, the first off the bat of Mark Thysell sending reserve right fielder Sam Johnson crashing into the wall. Thysell ended up with a triple and scored on a base hit by De Gandi. Jordan Poyer came on with the bases loaded and induced a comebacker from Matt Mizell for the final out, pitching a scoreless seventh inning with one strikeout to close out the win.
Despite the loss, Dierickx was much happier with his team's showing.
"We played the game hard and made some mistakes, but no mental mistakes for the most part. Just physical mistakes. Astoria's just an outstanding team. What more can you say?"
The Gulls will have their pitching depth severely tested, facing Clatskanie at Broadway Field in a non-league doubleheader Friday. Astoria is off until Tuesday, when the Fishermen head to Tillamook to take on the Cheesemakers, who opened league play with a 9-7 win over Yamhill-Carlton, but were shut down 10-0 in five innings by the Tigers on Thursday.
ESPN Radio's first live broadcast of the season comes up next Thursday, when the Fishermen host the Cheesemakers at Aiken Field.
SEASIDE 0-1-0-0-0-1-0 2-6-2
ASTORIA 5-2-0-2-0-0-X 9-10-2
WP-Bredleau (5.2 ip, 6h, 2er, 2k, 4bb, hp)
LP-De Gandi (5ip, 10h, 9r, 5er, 3k, 3bb, hp, 2wp)
E-Knutsen, Carow, Jawarski, Davis. LOB-Seaside 7, Astoria 6. 2B-Culver, Landwehr. 3B-Thysell, Matt Brause. HR-Giztavich. SB-Beatty, Poyer, Koehnke 2, Culver 2, Matt Brause, Johnson. SF-Landwehr. DP-Astoria 2. PB-Knutsen.
posted by Matt Richert at 7:56 PM
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