FISH WIN AGAIN, CAN WRAP UP COWAPA FRIDAY
Are the Astoria Fishermen so confident now that they are willing to take on Mother Nature?
On a blustery, showery day at Aiken Field, the Fishermen put the finishing touches on a 14-4 victory over the Yamhill-Carlton Tigers as a persistent shower dowsed the field. Fortunately for the Fishermen, five innings were all that was necessary to complete their tenth Cowapa League win, and 16th straight victory overall.
The Fishermen now have a chance to clinch the Cowapa League title at Seaside on Friday. The Gulls and Scappoose Indians were rained out Wednesday and will try to play their game at Scappoose today. If the Seagulls win, Astoria would clinch the league title with a victory at Broadway Field on Friday. The only way Astoria doesn't win the league championship is not even worthy of discussion. The Fishermen would have to lose their five remaining games and either Seaside or Scappoose must win out.
Yamhill-Carlton scored the first run of yesterday's game and hung around for a few innings before the Fishermen blew the game open with an 8-run fourth inning. After a brief shower about 35 minutes before game time, the skies opened up in the bottom of the fourth inning as Astoria sent 14 men to the plate against two Tigers pitchers.
Brent Culver, who did not start the game, led off with a bloop base hit and walked in his second at bat, scoring twice in the inning. Astoria picked up six hits in the inning, including RBI singles by Brendan Landwehr, Hans Lund and pinch-hitting Brad Sarpola, sacrifice flies by Jordan Poyer and Mason Brause and a bases loaded walk to pinch-hitting Oscar Carriere.
Culver made what turned out to be a key defensive play in Yamhill-Carlton's final at bat in the fifth. With Astoria leading 14-2 and Colin Pickerill aboard via a leadoff single, Culver went flying to the left-center field gap to make a diving, backhanded catch of a line shot off the bat of Dustin Rhodes, potentially saving what looked like a fairly meaningless run at the time. But, as the rain continued to accumulate on the Astoria infield, starting pitcher Nick Bredleau ran into trouble, walking the next two batters to load the bases. Needing to get out of the inning to end the game, Jordan Poyer came on in relief to strike out Heath Rhodes on three pitches for the second out, but issued back-to-back bases loaded walks to Preston Cooper and Travis Guthrie to make the score 14-4 with the game-extending runner moving to third base. Poyer rebounded to retire leadoff batter Greg Slater on a fly ball to right field, ending a game that might have been halted due to weather regardless.
Bredleau picked up the win on the mound to improve his season record to 6-1. Dustin Rhodes was hung with the loss, dropping to 2-4 overall.
Yamhill-Carlton scored first when Matt Wood beat out an infield hit, despite a tremendous effort by Astoria second baseman Hans Lund who made a diving stop deep in the hole and a throw to first from the seat of his pants. Wood advanced to second base on a Colin Pickerill walk than scored on Miles Barrow's single to the left-center field gap.
The Fishermen response was swift as their first four batters reached base. Gabe Davis, starting in right field and leading off, reached on an error, but was promptly picked off, however, Tom Jawarski and Matt Brause followed with line drive singles. Jawarski scored on Brause's scorching shot after moving to second on a balk. Landwehr followed with a line drive home run that just cleared the wall down the left field line, the third straight game in which the Astoria catcher has homered and the second time in that span that he has hit it out through a driving wind.
After the Tigers cut the lead to 3-2 on a two-out RBI single by Wood, Astoria plated a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the second. Hans Lund reached on a one-out error then advanced to third on Davis' hit-and-run single up the middle, right behind second baseman Barrow who was going to cover the bag. Davis again drew a pickoff throw, but this time by design, as Lund broke home on the play to score as Davis was tagged out at second base. After a two out walk to Jawarski, Brause hit what would normally be a routine fly ball to right field, but no fly balls were routine on this day, as the wind blew the ball back toward the infield. Jawarski scored all the way from first base on the play as Brause reached safely when the ball dropped untouched in shallow right. Wood's RBI single in the top half of the inning was nearly identical, as Davis initially went back, but then had to sprint toward the infield in a vain attempt to reach the ball.
Jordan Poyer led off the third inning with his fourth home run of the season, just over the short porch in right-center and barely out of the reach of centerfielder Preston Cooper.
Seven Fishermen starters entered yesterday's game batting over .400 and all but one raised their averages. Landwehr finished 2-for-3 with three runs batted in, Matt Brause was 2-for-2 with two RBI's and Jawarski went 2-for-2 with three runs scored. Koehnke also had two hits for the Fishermen, who improved to 16-3 overall.
Ninth hitter Travis Guthrie went 2-for-2 with a run and an RBI for the Tigers and also finished the game on the mound, allowing three hits and two earned runs over the final two-thirds of an inning. Wood went 2-for-3 at the plate with a run and an RBI and Barrow was 1-for-2 with a run and a rib. The Tigers dropped to fourth place in the Cowapa League standings at 5-5 and fell to 7-14 overall.
YAMHILL 1-1-0-0-2 4-6-3
ASTORIA 3-2-1-8-x 14-13-1
W-Bredleau (4.1ip, 6h, 4er, k, 5bb, 3wp)
L-D. Rhodes (3.1ip, 10h, 12r, 6er, k, 5bb, 2bk)
E-Barrow, Slater 2, Jawarski. LOB-Y-C 9, Astoria 6. HR-Landwehr (3), Poyer (4). SB-Koehnke, Lund. SF-Poyer, Mason Brause. DP-Astoria 1.
On a blustery, showery day at Aiken Field, the Fishermen put the finishing touches on a 14-4 victory over the Yamhill-Carlton Tigers as a persistent shower dowsed the field. Fortunately for the Fishermen, five innings were all that was necessary to complete their tenth Cowapa League win, and 16th straight victory overall.
The Fishermen now have a chance to clinch the Cowapa League title at Seaside on Friday. The Gulls and Scappoose Indians were rained out Wednesday and will try to play their game at Scappoose today. If the Seagulls win, Astoria would clinch the league title with a victory at Broadway Field on Friday. The only way Astoria doesn't win the league championship is not even worthy of discussion. The Fishermen would have to lose their five remaining games and either Seaside or Scappoose must win out.
Yamhill-Carlton scored the first run of yesterday's game and hung around for a few innings before the Fishermen blew the game open with an 8-run fourth inning. After a brief shower about 35 minutes before game time, the skies opened up in the bottom of the fourth inning as Astoria sent 14 men to the plate against two Tigers pitchers.
Brent Culver, who did not start the game, led off with a bloop base hit and walked in his second at bat, scoring twice in the inning. Astoria picked up six hits in the inning, including RBI singles by Brendan Landwehr, Hans Lund and pinch-hitting Brad Sarpola, sacrifice flies by Jordan Poyer and Mason Brause and a bases loaded walk to pinch-hitting Oscar Carriere.
Culver made what turned out to be a key defensive play in Yamhill-Carlton's final at bat in the fifth. With Astoria leading 14-2 and Colin Pickerill aboard via a leadoff single, Culver went flying to the left-center field gap to make a diving, backhanded catch of a line shot off the bat of Dustin Rhodes, potentially saving what looked like a fairly meaningless run at the time. But, as the rain continued to accumulate on the Astoria infield, starting pitcher Nick Bredleau ran into trouble, walking the next two batters to load the bases. Needing to get out of the inning to end the game, Jordan Poyer came on in relief to strike out Heath Rhodes on three pitches for the second out, but issued back-to-back bases loaded walks to Preston Cooper and Travis Guthrie to make the score 14-4 with the game-extending runner moving to third base. Poyer rebounded to retire leadoff batter Greg Slater on a fly ball to right field, ending a game that might have been halted due to weather regardless.
Bredleau picked up the win on the mound to improve his season record to 6-1. Dustin Rhodes was hung with the loss, dropping to 2-4 overall.
Yamhill-Carlton scored first when Matt Wood beat out an infield hit, despite a tremendous effort by Astoria second baseman Hans Lund who made a diving stop deep in the hole and a throw to first from the seat of his pants. Wood advanced to second base on a Colin Pickerill walk than scored on Miles Barrow's single to the left-center field gap.
The Fishermen response was swift as their first four batters reached base. Gabe Davis, starting in right field and leading off, reached on an error, but was promptly picked off, however, Tom Jawarski and Matt Brause followed with line drive singles. Jawarski scored on Brause's scorching shot after moving to second on a balk. Landwehr followed with a line drive home run that just cleared the wall down the left field line, the third straight game in which the Astoria catcher has homered and the second time in that span that he has hit it out through a driving wind.
After the Tigers cut the lead to 3-2 on a two-out RBI single by Wood, Astoria plated a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the second. Hans Lund reached on a one-out error then advanced to third on Davis' hit-and-run single up the middle, right behind second baseman Barrow who was going to cover the bag. Davis again drew a pickoff throw, but this time by design, as Lund broke home on the play to score as Davis was tagged out at second base. After a two out walk to Jawarski, Brause hit what would normally be a routine fly ball to right field, but no fly balls were routine on this day, as the wind blew the ball back toward the infield. Jawarski scored all the way from first base on the play as Brause reached safely when the ball dropped untouched in shallow right. Wood's RBI single in the top half of the inning was nearly identical, as Davis initially went back, but then had to sprint toward the infield in a vain attempt to reach the ball.
Jordan Poyer led off the third inning with his fourth home run of the season, just over the short porch in right-center and barely out of the reach of centerfielder Preston Cooper.
Seven Fishermen starters entered yesterday's game batting over .400 and all but one raised their averages. Landwehr finished 2-for-3 with three runs batted in, Matt Brause was 2-for-2 with two RBI's and Jawarski went 2-for-2 with three runs scored. Koehnke also had two hits for the Fishermen, who improved to 16-3 overall.
Ninth hitter Travis Guthrie went 2-for-2 with a run and an RBI for the Tigers and also finished the game on the mound, allowing three hits and two earned runs over the final two-thirds of an inning. Wood went 2-for-3 at the plate with a run and an RBI and Barrow was 1-for-2 with a run and a rib. The Tigers dropped to fourth place in the Cowapa League standings at 5-5 and fell to 7-14 overall.
YAMHILL 1-1-0-0-2 4-6-3
ASTORIA 3-2-1-8-x 14-13-1
W-Bredleau (4.1ip, 6h, 4er, k, 5bb, 3wp)
L-D. Rhodes (3.1ip, 10h, 12r, 6er, k, 5bb, 2bk)
E-Barrow, Slater 2, Jawarski. LOB-Y-C 9, Astoria 6. HR-Landwehr (3), Poyer (4). SB-Koehnke, Lund. SF-Poyer, Mason Brause. DP-Astoria 1.
posted by Matt Richert at 7:10 PM
4 Comments:
Thank you again Matt for a great game review. I get so sick and tired of opening the local newspaper to a one paragraph article and Gary Henley's total bias that Poyer is the only player on the team. He is a great kid and awesome athelete but I know he is the first one to admit that team is spelled without and I.....
Can't begrudge GH for giving that kid a lot of ink. He's special. What I think is extraordinary is a team with seven +.400 hitters and nobody batting -.300 in the order. Now that's a team that will be mighty tough to beat straight into June!
Totally agree he is special but let's see what happens next year. With the exception of baseball due to the strong frosh group,Poyer alone will not be enough to carry the football and basketball teams especially with the loss of this years hugh Senior group.
Some of that frosh group will have to step up as sophs next year to keep the Fishermen at a competitive level in those sports. I think Astoria will be OK in football and if you look at Cowapa League basketball, most of the league took a big graduation hit. Seaside will be the only team that returns a lot of experience, while Scappoose and Tillamook each return one very good player.
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