FISH RIDE PITCHING, DEFENSE TO 10TH STRAIGHT WIN
After a come-from-behind win over Ilwaco on Saturday with an alternate lineup on the field, the Fishermen baseball nine got their first real challenge of the spring on Wednesday.
Astoria squeezed out two runs in the fourth inning in a tight pitcher's duel and held on to defeat Scappoose 2-0 at Aiken Field. With the win, Astoria secured a two-game lead in the Cowapa League, improving to 5-0 and 10-3 overall.
Senior righthander Matt Brause won his 19th consecutive decision in a 4-hit shutout performance, but got some defensive help late in the game to keep the Indians off the scoreboard.
"We heard they had a good pitcher," said Brause, who improved to 4-0 on the season and 3-0 in Cowapa League play with yesterday's win. "He threw pretty hard and had a pretty good curveball. He kept us off balance."
Indians' starter Jacob Gale pitched very well, but was able to escape trouble early in the game thanks to his steady defense.
"He's got good stuff," said Astoria head coach Dave Gasser. "And then they played clean behind him. Better than clean. We hit four or five balls on the screws and they made the plays on all of them. They played great."
"If I'm them, I'm wondering how we can pitch that well and play that good of defense and lose. But, then the answer becomes we played super clean behind Matt. If we would've blinked defensively, we would've lost. Simple as that."
The teams combined for just nine hits and only one error in a well-played game that lasted just over 90 minutes and endured only one brief, light shower that did not stop play.
Gale allowed five hits and struck out six batters with three bases on balls, but a walk and a hit batter in the fourth inning led to Astoria's only runs of the game.
With one out, Adam Koehnke and Joey Dursse reached on back-to-back infield singles between short and third. With Koehnke on first, a hit-and-run got shortstop Ryan Wilson moving toward second as Dursse poked a ground ball to the vacated spot, which rolled to a stop in the wet grass in shallow left field just beyond the cut of the infield. Mason Brause followed with a drive to deep right field, but Josh Courtney was able to make a fine running catch to hold the runners in place.
Earlier in the game, Cody Hoglund's twisting, turning catch of a Tom Jawarski drive about ten feet from the wall in left field denied Astoria a scoring opportunity. Third baseman Charlie Updike made a leaping snag on a Jordan Poyer line drive in the first inning to save at least one run and corraled a hot smash off the bat of Matt Brause with a runner on second in the third inning.
With two outs and runners at first and second, Gale hit Hans Lund with a pitch to load the bases, before walking Brent Culver on four pitches to force in Koehnke with the first run of the game. Then, with Jawarski at the plate, Dursse broke down the line from third as Gale went into a windup motion. The rattled pitcher stopped dead in his tracks for a balk, as Dursse scored what turned out to be an insurance run.
"Joey had a great jump," said Gasser. "If he hadn't have balked he would have beat the ball."
Brause allowed just one hit through the first five innings, but ran into trouble in the sixth as Sean Wasson and Julian Zirkle led off the inning with back-to-back line drive base hits to the opposite field. With the tying runs on base and nobody out, Hoglund bunted an 0-1 pitch toward the mound. Brause came off the hill and fired to third base to force out Wasson.
"In the conditions we were playing in, you can't underestimate the pitcher coming off the mound and getting the lead out," said Gasser.
Gale followed with a deep drive to right-center field, but had two things going against him: the strong wind off Young's Bay and Brent Culver's glove.
"When that ball left the bat, I didn't think we were catching it," said Gasser. "I mean that was hit on the screws! But Brent was moving before the ball was hit. I mean, he just went straight to the ball. Honestly, of all the nice defensive plays made in this game that was the best. If that's in the gap, they score two and the winning run is at second or third and we might not win the game."
The senior centerfielder and leadoff hitter, who went 1-for-2 with a walk in the game, continues an impressive start to the season in which he has made contributions with the bat (hitting over .500 for the season), the glove and the wheels in nearly every game for Astoria.
"That guy hit that ball harder than anyone's hit one off me in a long time," said Brause of the Gale fly out. "He crushed that. I thought that was out at first. It got in the wind today. Then I thought it was a gapper and I see Culver running like a blur and he caught it. That was amazing. That was a great catch."
Brause struck out Updike looking at an 0-2 curveball to end the inning and pitched a scoreless seventh to polish off the shutout.
"Lately, we've been scoring a lot of runs early," said Brause. "I don't want to say coasting, but we haven't had to really worry about anything. I think this was a good game to have as kind of an eye-opener to not take anyone lightly. They came to play today. They probably have the mindset now that they can beat us. It will be a tough game [Thursday]."
The game featured no extra base hits and no one had more than one hit in the game. Culver, Dursse and Koehnke each reached base twice with a single and a base on balls for Astoria, while Caleb Honl singled and walked for the Indians.
"It was a really well-pitched, well-defensed game," said Gasser. "Kind of a playoff-type look to that. "
The Fishermen and Indians play again today in Scappoose at 5:00 p.m.
SCAPPOOSE 0-0-0-0-0-0-0 0-4-1
ASTORIA 0-0-0-2-0-0-X 2-5-0
W-Brause (7ip, 4h, 0r, 7k, 2bb, wp)
L-Gale (6ip, 5h, 2er, 6k, 3bb, hp, bk)
E-Updike. LOB-Scappoose 5, Astoria 7. SB-Jawarski, Koehnke, Culver. CS-Courtney.
Astoria squeezed out two runs in the fourth inning in a tight pitcher's duel and held on to defeat Scappoose 2-0 at Aiken Field. With the win, Astoria secured a two-game lead in the Cowapa League, improving to 5-0 and 10-3 overall.
Senior righthander Matt Brause won his 19th consecutive decision in a 4-hit shutout performance, but got some defensive help late in the game to keep the Indians off the scoreboard.
"We heard they had a good pitcher," said Brause, who improved to 4-0 on the season and 3-0 in Cowapa League play with yesterday's win. "He threw pretty hard and had a pretty good curveball. He kept us off balance."
Indians' starter Jacob Gale pitched very well, but was able to escape trouble early in the game thanks to his steady defense.
"He's got good stuff," said Astoria head coach Dave Gasser. "And then they played clean behind him. Better than clean. We hit four or five balls on the screws and they made the plays on all of them. They played great."
"If I'm them, I'm wondering how we can pitch that well and play that good of defense and lose. But, then the answer becomes we played super clean behind Matt. If we would've blinked defensively, we would've lost. Simple as that."
The teams combined for just nine hits and only one error in a well-played game that lasted just over 90 minutes and endured only one brief, light shower that did not stop play.
Gale allowed five hits and struck out six batters with three bases on balls, but a walk and a hit batter in the fourth inning led to Astoria's only runs of the game.
With one out, Adam Koehnke and Joey Dursse reached on back-to-back infield singles between short and third. With Koehnke on first, a hit-and-run got shortstop Ryan Wilson moving toward second as Dursse poked a ground ball to the vacated spot, which rolled to a stop in the wet grass in shallow left field just beyond the cut of the infield. Mason Brause followed with a drive to deep right field, but Josh Courtney was able to make a fine running catch to hold the runners in place.
Earlier in the game, Cody Hoglund's twisting, turning catch of a Tom Jawarski drive about ten feet from the wall in left field denied Astoria a scoring opportunity. Third baseman Charlie Updike made a leaping snag on a Jordan Poyer line drive in the first inning to save at least one run and corraled a hot smash off the bat of Matt Brause with a runner on second in the third inning.
With two outs and runners at first and second, Gale hit Hans Lund with a pitch to load the bases, before walking Brent Culver on four pitches to force in Koehnke with the first run of the game. Then, with Jawarski at the plate, Dursse broke down the line from third as Gale went into a windup motion. The rattled pitcher stopped dead in his tracks for a balk, as Dursse scored what turned out to be an insurance run.
"Joey had a great jump," said Gasser. "If he hadn't have balked he would have beat the ball."
Brause allowed just one hit through the first five innings, but ran into trouble in the sixth as Sean Wasson and Julian Zirkle led off the inning with back-to-back line drive base hits to the opposite field. With the tying runs on base and nobody out, Hoglund bunted an 0-1 pitch toward the mound. Brause came off the hill and fired to third base to force out Wasson.
"In the conditions we were playing in, you can't underestimate the pitcher coming off the mound and getting the lead out," said Gasser.
Gale followed with a deep drive to right-center field, but had two things going against him: the strong wind off Young's Bay and Brent Culver's glove.
"When that ball left the bat, I didn't think we were catching it," said Gasser. "I mean that was hit on the screws! But Brent was moving before the ball was hit. I mean, he just went straight to the ball. Honestly, of all the nice defensive plays made in this game that was the best. If that's in the gap, they score two and the winning run is at second or third and we might not win the game."
The senior centerfielder and leadoff hitter, who went 1-for-2 with a walk in the game, continues an impressive start to the season in which he has made contributions with the bat (hitting over .500 for the season), the glove and the wheels in nearly every game for Astoria.
"That guy hit that ball harder than anyone's hit one off me in a long time," said Brause of the Gale fly out. "He crushed that. I thought that was out at first. It got in the wind today. Then I thought it was a gapper and I see Culver running like a blur and he caught it. That was amazing. That was a great catch."
Brause struck out Updike looking at an 0-2 curveball to end the inning and pitched a scoreless seventh to polish off the shutout.
"Lately, we've been scoring a lot of runs early," said Brause. "I don't want to say coasting, but we haven't had to really worry about anything. I think this was a good game to have as kind of an eye-opener to not take anyone lightly. They came to play today. They probably have the mindset now that they can beat us. It will be a tough game [Thursday]."
The game featured no extra base hits and no one had more than one hit in the game. Culver, Dursse and Koehnke each reached base twice with a single and a base on balls for Astoria, while Caleb Honl singled and walked for the Indians.
"It was a really well-pitched, well-defensed game," said Gasser. "Kind of a playoff-type look to that. "
The Fishermen and Indians play again today in Scappoose at 5:00 p.m.
SCAPPOOSE 0-0-0-0-0-0-0 0-4-1
ASTORIA 0-0-0-2-0-0-X 2-5-0
W-Brause (7ip, 4h, 0r, 7k, 2bb, wp)
L-Gale (6ip, 5h, 2er, 6k, 3bb, hp, bk)
E-Updike. LOB-Scappoose 5, Astoria 7. SB-Jawarski, Koehnke, Culver. CS-Courtney.
posted by Matt Richert at 6:10 AM
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