FISHERMEN ROLL TO 13TH STRAIGHT WIN
One pretty good team is going to have a long winning streak end on Saturday.
The Astoria Fishermen picked up their 13th straight win Thursday with another 5-inning bloodbath, defeating Banks 16-1 on the road to sweep the first round series against their fourth straight Cowapa League opponent. On Saturday, the top-ranked Mark Morris Monarchs will likely carry a 16-game win streak and unbeaten season record to Aiken Field for a baseball border war like no other seen in this area before.
"The best two teams we played, we played very early," said Astoria head coach Dave Gasser. "Our pitching really wasn't in a position to hang in there at the end. I'm looking forward to see to what extent, against really good competition, we've gotten better on the defensive and the pitching end. Hopefully, we'll be able to swing it, although the pitching will be better."
Mark Morris is one of two 2A classification schools in Longview, although a larger school than Astoria by about 200 students. The Monarchs have a rich athletic history in a number of sports. The last time a highly ranked Monarchs team met a highly ranked Fishermen team was December 21, 2001 when the schools' boys basketball teams met at Ted Natt Court in Longview. Astoria Hall of Fame head coach Mike Goin took that year's team, the last of his career, to the state semifinals and a third place finish, but December 21 was a night he'd rather forget, as the Monarchs, despite missing their star point guard, destroyed a shorthanded Fishermen squad 84-58 in a game that wasn't even as close as the score might indicate. Astoria played without star player Matt Johnson, who separated his shoulder prior to the contest, which ended with one of the most lopsided losses of Goin's long, successful tenure.
The Banks Braves know how it feels to be whupped by a very good team because it happened twice in two days, with the Fishermen outscoring the Braves 29-1 and outhitting Banks 21-5 to dominate the home-and-away series this week.
One day after his 16th birthday, Astoria sophomore Jordan Poyer celebrated with a 3-for-3 day that included his third home run and first triple of the season. Poyer scored three runs to up his team leading total to 27 and also drove in three. Matt Brause didn't let "The Chef" own the team lead in jacks for long, as he went deep over the wall in left field for his third home run of the season in the third inning, adding an RBI double in the first, which kickstarted a 6-run scoring rally in the opening frame. Brause finished with two hits in three at bats with three RBI's and two runs.
"Just with his upper body alone he can just mash it," said Astoria head coach Dave Gasser of Brause, who homered for the eighth time in his career to lead the squad. "Then when he puts upper and lower body together it just goes into a different dimension."
"He hit a couple today that, I mean, usually you don't see that in high school. We swung it pretty good about six or seven times. We just hit lasers."
Brause in particular seems to love hitting at the Braves' field, hitting home runs in both ends of a doubleheader last season.
Brendan Landwehr reached base all three times at bat, going 2-for-2 on the day, while his courtesy runner, Sam Johnson, capitalized with three runs scored.
Adam Koehnke and Joey Dursse had two hits each, with Dursse driving in two runs and scoring twice, nearly coming all the way around the bases on a gift triple in the second inning. Dursse's catchable fly ball to right field dropped in safely and Dursse pushed for third base, then home after the relay throw got past Braves' third baseman Jacob Tijerina. Banks pitcher Clayton Edwards retrieved the ball and fired home to nail Dursse at the plate for the final out of the inning, but not before two runs scored on the play, giving Astoria a 9-0 lead.
"We hit the ball well enough that different people can have big days every game," said Astoria head coach Dave Gasser. "We've been having a bunch of people every game that are swinging the bat very well."
The Braves scored their only run in the second inning, but got only one run after loading the bases with nobody out on a back-to-back walks and a Johnny Janisko base hit. Dirk Vredenburg flew out to Poyer in right field, deep enough to score Brett Gooding, but a shallow fly to center by catcher Bryce Shulund was not enough to score another run and Astoria pitcher Nick Bredleau fanned Sam Longe on three pitches to end the inning.
Bredleau went four innings, allowing three hits to improve his season record to 4-1, matching last year's mark. Hans Lund pitched a scoreless fifth inning with one hit allowed and two strikeouts.
Astoria lit up Banks starting pitcher Clayton Edwards for 14 runs on 13 hits in the first three innings, batting around in the first and the third. For the second straight day, the Braves got hitless relief. However, Johnny Janisko watched helplessly as the Braves outfield misplayed three balls in the fifth inning, leading to two more Astoria runs. A few of Astoria's hits earlier in the game looked more like routine outs until they somehow found their way off, over or around the Braves' outfield gloves.
"Right now it's like they are just half-expecting to make mistakes," said Gasser. "I just kind of feel bad because I think they've lost five straight. They're just struggling right now. Hopefully they can catch a win or two and get their confidence going a little bit better."
Banks finished with a conservatively scored six errors for the contest as the Braves fell to 5-11 on the season and 1-7 in the Cowapa League, likely out of playoff contention.
The Fishermen are now 8-0 in league and have a commanding 3-game lead on second place Yamhill-Carlton and Scappoose. Astoria already has the tiebreaker edge on the Indians and can put the Tigers in the rearview mirror with a sweep next week.
Following Saturday's non-league showdown against Mark Morris, Astoria will travel to Yamhill-Carlton Monday for the first of three league games next week. The return engagement will be at Astoria's Aiken Field on Wednesday, then the Fishermen close the week at Seaside.
Saturday's game against Mark Morris will be broadcast live on SportsRadio 1230 ESPN with pregame coverage beginning at 12:55 p.m.
ASTORIA 6-3-5-0-2 16-13-0
BANKS 0-1-0-0-0 1-4-6
W-Bredleau (4ip, 3h, er, k, 3bb, wp)
L-Edwards (3ip, 13h, 14r, 13er, 2k, 2bb, wp, hp)
E-Tijerina 2, Bayless, Longe, Vredenburg. LOB-Astoria 6, Banks 6. 2B-Matt Brause, Jawarski. 3B-Dursse, Poyer. HR-Poyer, Brause. SB-Jawarski, Lund 2, Carriere, Culver. CS-Mason Brause. SF-Vredenburg.
The Astoria Fishermen picked up their 13th straight win Thursday with another 5-inning bloodbath, defeating Banks 16-1 on the road to sweep the first round series against their fourth straight Cowapa League opponent. On Saturday, the top-ranked Mark Morris Monarchs will likely carry a 16-game win streak and unbeaten season record to Aiken Field for a baseball border war like no other seen in this area before.
"The best two teams we played, we played very early," said Astoria head coach Dave Gasser. "Our pitching really wasn't in a position to hang in there at the end. I'm looking forward to see to what extent, against really good competition, we've gotten better on the defensive and the pitching end. Hopefully, we'll be able to swing it, although the pitching will be better."
Mark Morris is one of two 2A classification schools in Longview, although a larger school than Astoria by about 200 students. The Monarchs have a rich athletic history in a number of sports. The last time a highly ranked Monarchs team met a highly ranked Fishermen team was December 21, 2001 when the schools' boys basketball teams met at Ted Natt Court in Longview. Astoria Hall of Fame head coach Mike Goin took that year's team, the last of his career, to the state semifinals and a third place finish, but December 21 was a night he'd rather forget, as the Monarchs, despite missing their star point guard, destroyed a shorthanded Fishermen squad 84-58 in a game that wasn't even as close as the score might indicate. Astoria played without star player Matt Johnson, who separated his shoulder prior to the contest, which ended with one of the most lopsided losses of Goin's long, successful tenure.
The Banks Braves know how it feels to be whupped by a very good team because it happened twice in two days, with the Fishermen outscoring the Braves 29-1 and outhitting Banks 21-5 to dominate the home-and-away series this week.
One day after his 16th birthday, Astoria sophomore Jordan Poyer celebrated with a 3-for-3 day that included his third home run and first triple of the season. Poyer scored three runs to up his team leading total to 27 and also drove in three. Matt Brause didn't let "The Chef" own the team lead in jacks for long, as he went deep over the wall in left field for his third home run of the season in the third inning, adding an RBI double in the first, which kickstarted a 6-run scoring rally in the opening frame. Brause finished with two hits in three at bats with three RBI's and two runs.
"Just with his upper body alone he can just mash it," said Astoria head coach Dave Gasser of Brause, who homered for the eighth time in his career to lead the squad. "Then when he puts upper and lower body together it just goes into a different dimension."
"He hit a couple today that, I mean, usually you don't see that in high school. We swung it pretty good about six or seven times. We just hit lasers."
Brause in particular seems to love hitting at the Braves' field, hitting home runs in both ends of a doubleheader last season.
Brendan Landwehr reached base all three times at bat, going 2-for-2 on the day, while his courtesy runner, Sam Johnson, capitalized with three runs scored.
Adam Koehnke and Joey Dursse had two hits each, with Dursse driving in two runs and scoring twice, nearly coming all the way around the bases on a gift triple in the second inning. Dursse's catchable fly ball to right field dropped in safely and Dursse pushed for third base, then home after the relay throw got past Braves' third baseman Jacob Tijerina. Banks pitcher Clayton Edwards retrieved the ball and fired home to nail Dursse at the plate for the final out of the inning, but not before two runs scored on the play, giving Astoria a 9-0 lead.
"We hit the ball well enough that different people can have big days every game," said Astoria head coach Dave Gasser. "We've been having a bunch of people every game that are swinging the bat very well."
The Braves scored their only run in the second inning, but got only one run after loading the bases with nobody out on a back-to-back walks and a Johnny Janisko base hit. Dirk Vredenburg flew out to Poyer in right field, deep enough to score Brett Gooding, but a shallow fly to center by catcher Bryce Shulund was not enough to score another run and Astoria pitcher Nick Bredleau fanned Sam Longe on three pitches to end the inning.
Bredleau went four innings, allowing three hits to improve his season record to 4-1, matching last year's mark. Hans Lund pitched a scoreless fifth inning with one hit allowed and two strikeouts.
Astoria lit up Banks starting pitcher Clayton Edwards for 14 runs on 13 hits in the first three innings, batting around in the first and the third. For the second straight day, the Braves got hitless relief. However, Johnny Janisko watched helplessly as the Braves outfield misplayed three balls in the fifth inning, leading to two more Astoria runs. A few of Astoria's hits earlier in the game looked more like routine outs until they somehow found their way off, over or around the Braves' outfield gloves.
"Right now it's like they are just half-expecting to make mistakes," said Gasser. "I just kind of feel bad because I think they've lost five straight. They're just struggling right now. Hopefully they can catch a win or two and get their confidence going a little bit better."
Banks finished with a conservatively scored six errors for the contest as the Braves fell to 5-11 on the season and 1-7 in the Cowapa League, likely out of playoff contention.
The Fishermen are now 8-0 in league and have a commanding 3-game lead on second place Yamhill-Carlton and Scappoose. Astoria already has the tiebreaker edge on the Indians and can put the Tigers in the rearview mirror with a sweep next week.
Following Saturday's non-league showdown against Mark Morris, Astoria will travel to Yamhill-Carlton Monday for the first of three league games next week. The return engagement will be at Astoria's Aiken Field on Wednesday, then the Fishermen close the week at Seaside.
Saturday's game against Mark Morris will be broadcast live on SportsRadio 1230 ESPN with pregame coverage beginning at 12:55 p.m.
ASTORIA 6-3-5-0-2 16-13-0
BANKS 0-1-0-0-0 1-4-6
W-Bredleau (4ip, 3h, er, k, 3bb, wp)
L-Edwards (3ip, 13h, 14r, 13er, 2k, 2bb, wp, hp)
E-Tijerina 2, Bayless, Longe, Vredenburg. LOB-Astoria 6, Banks 6. 2B-Matt Brause, Jawarski. 3B-Dursse, Poyer. HR-Poyer, Brause. SB-Jawarski, Lund 2, Carriere, Culver. CS-Mason Brause. SF-Vredenburg.
posted by Matt Richert at 12:26 AM
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