We are now two weeks and two days into playing baseball in the Beaver State and what have we learned?
Clackamas, which beat South Salem, 7-2, yesterday, appears to be the team to beat in 6A.
Undefeated Kennedy, which bested Umpqua Valley Christian yesterday, 9-2, defeating the two-time defending 2A/1A champions for the second time this season already; is the best in that classification.
Undefeated Junction City is formidable in 4A.
You cannot score on Taft in 3A.
Crater (6-1) is making 5A news with three straight wins in Fresno to make the finals of the Fresno Easter Classic.
Those are hardly the only stories playing out across our great state, of course. Let’s take a look at what else is happening on the diamond across the OSAA.
Bring the Wood to the Burn
Woodburn went 4-21 last year and needed a two-game sweep of McKay to end the season just to get to four wins. Through six games this year, the 5A Bulldogs have matched that win total.
One key has been scoring runs. They are averaging almost 13 runs per game in those four wins.
The most important key, however, has been “winning the dugout.”
First-year head coach Bo Lane came into the program determined to pivot from the past.
“Winning the dugout” was essential to that plan.
That means never letting the vibe drop regardless of what the scoreboard reflects. It means players and coaches building everyone up and never putting anyone down.
“We want to be intentional with our attitudes and effort every inning,” Lane said. “We can’t ever get so quiet that the other team ‘out-dugouts’ us.”
Woodburn opened the year with two wins; then absorbed some difficult Spring Break losses before getting back on track with successive victories.
“We try to control the controllables, focus on what we're good at and not try to be something we're not,” Lane said.
Playing with tempo and taking advantage of aggression on the basepaths have been integral to team success so far. So has having a veteran team whose starters are mainly juniors and seniors and have played together for a handful of years.
Juniors Mason Pickett and Collin Spurgeon are the team’s best arms, and they’ve had some strong moments early in the season. They are benefiting tremendously from senior Damien Vasquez’ vast improvement behind the plate and his overall leadership.
Conference play will start in about 10 days and will bring its challenges, with four of the 5A top 10 to contend with, but Woodburn is a program headed in the right direction.
“There are some pieces here and I'm just trying to help them put those tools together so we can compete,” Lane said.
Win some games, boys, but don’t forget to always win the dugout!
Kennedy does hard things
John F. Kennedy High School has started the season 7-0. The fast start is typical of Kevin Moffatt-coached teams, but what’s notable this year is that two of the wins have come over Umpqua Valley Christian, the two-time defending 2A/1A state champions and the team Kennedy lost to, b a 2-1 score, in last year’s championship final.
And the games have not been close. Kennedy, which won State in 2022 (over UVC) and 2023, won 11-1 on March 21 and 9-2 yesterday.
Kennedy’s first win over UVC was fueled by the offense of Henry Beyer and Creo Walker, who each drove home three for the Trojans to support the pitching of Beyer and Gio Vaquera.
“UVC is very good; they just had trouble throwing strikes that day,” Moffatt observed after the game. “We scored all our runs in the first two innings, then it was even after that. We did play well, but so did UVC other than the walks. They hit well and turned double plays -- all the things they always do. They will be tough the rest of the way.”
Yesterday’s Kennedy win was fueled by the defense of a freshman and the hitting and pitching of the many seniors on the squad. In the field, freshman Ethan Berning, in his third varsity start, had nine putouts and played sound defense all game. Landon Kline and Colby Rich had two hits and two RBIs each for the offense and Beyer, Vaquera, Jake Beyer and Brody Panuke all threw well. Junior Max Chrisenbery drove in both runs for UVC and tossed 1.1 scoreless innings in relief.
Sunset rising
Defending 6A champion Sunset has shaken off a 1-3 start with three straight wins over Corvallis (5A No. 4), Barlow (Receiving votes 6A) and Ridgeview (5A No. 6).
Monday’s 3-2 win over Barlow featured a strong effort on the mound from sophomore RHP Kayden Dabbs, who gave up only two hits while fanning 10. Riley Via had two hits and two RBIs to spark the offense.
Senior Parker Raubuch, the winning pitcher in the state championship game, followed up Dabbs’ effort with 14 strike outs in a 2-hitter Tuesday at Ridgeview in the 7-1 win.
Setting the bar high at Barlow
Barlow’s young and very talented team raised eyebrows to start the season by defeating West Linn, 3-2, and losing to Jesuit, 7-6.
Against West Linn, the 6A state champions in 2022, 2023 and 2024, Barlow led 3-0 behind freshman ace Landon Elmer but was in a tough spot in the seventh before sophomore Chaz Johnson closed out the win.
At Jesuit two days later, Barlow trailed 5-1 in the fourth but rallied to within 7-6 in the seventh. The Bruins had runners on second and third with two out and thought Kai Meyer had put them on top with a shot to right only to see Jesuit’s fielder make a great over-the-shoulder catch to squelch the rally.
“We were an inch away from leaving the field with a win and a 2-0 start to the season,” said Barlow coach Brady Burdick.
“This team is young, aggressive, deep, but inexperienced,” he added. “Our youth shows on the mental side of the game. We have made mistakes almost every game (starting to see improvement), but our talent and aggressiveness have kept us in every game. Once we clean up our game a little bit, we will be dangerous.”
Ram tough
Central Catholic’s impressive start to the season was slowed somewhat by Westview’s 7-2 win yesterday, but before that the Rams were 4-1. That included a 3-1 showing in Phoenix over Spring Break, which followed a Holy War season-opening 5-1 win over Jesuit, which officially opened up the Northeast Sports Complex (formally Concordia University) era for CC.
Against Jesuit, junior Grady Olson got off to a rough start on the mound, yielding successive triples to start the game, but he didn’t give up another hit over his remaining four innings and fanned seven. Sophomore Sam Smith came in and struck out four over the final three frames. Freshman Cole Migaki had the biggest hit of the game, coming through with a 2-RBI double off the left field wall with two outs in the sixth, which provided the final margin of victory.
Central Catholic’s only loss in Phoenix was by a 2-1 score. Over the four Spring Break games, the Rams gave up only seven runs (five earned) over 25 innings. Olson, Smith, Migaki, Nolan Horner and Will Emerson all shined on the bump and combined to strike out 25 while walking just seven.
The wrong kind of Spring Break
Umatilla hosted three games in the Stanfield/Umatilla Tournament over Spring Break and went 1-2. The Vikings defeated a tough Heppner / Ione team but suffered a huge loss when senior CF David Garcia was hit in the face by a pitch and suffered a fractured cheekbone. Garcia is hitting .800 on the season. Losing his bat at the top of the order was tough for Umatilla to overcome.
Garcia is expected back next week. Pair his bat with other big hitters like Pablo Estrada, Linkin Zamudio and Bryce Morris and Ian Coyle’s team should be a tough out as the season progresses.
On the mound, senior Carter Griggs has pitched well, with 25 strike outs over his first two starts, both wins. He owns the school record for wins.
Umatilla split a doubleheader yesterday with Riverside of Boardman opening up 3A-Special District 2 play.
Undefeated
Last year, two teams, South Salem and Wilsonville, made it through the regular season undefeated.
After two weeks and two days of play, the number of teams that have the opportunity to duplicate the feat stands at eight.
Eight out of 202!
In 6A, only Newberg (5-0) has yet to lose. The Tigers started 5-0 last year as well.
There are no unbeaten teams in 5A.
Junction City (7-0) and Hidden Valley (5-0) have yet to lose in 4A.
Taft is 5-0 in 3A and has yielded just five runs in those games. Douglas (3-0) also has yet to suffer a setback.
Finally, there are three unbeaten teams in 2A/1A. In addition to mighty Kennedy (7-0), Lowell is 5-0 and Country Christian sits at 4-0.
Tuesday in the Association
There were MANY notable games played in the OSAA yesterday.
In 6A, Clackamas lived up to its No. 1 ranking by throttling No. 4 South Salem, 7-2. CJ Limbo had a huge two-out hit in the bottom of the fourth that drove home two and put the Cavaliers up 3-0. Clackamas also got two RBIs from Caleb Tiede and two hits from Kyle Kristensen as the bottom of the order went 4-for-7 with four RBIs!
On the mound, Nolan Foglio and Cade King combined to give up only two hits while fanning 12.
No. 2 Central Catholic did not have the same good fortune. The Rams fell at 3-3 Westview, 7-2. The Wildcats raced to a 7-0 lead after the first inning and never looked back. Five walks and two hit batsmen helped the cause.
Malachi O’Brien had two hits to improve his batting average to .545 on the season. Tyus Saywers added three walks, and Brody Rogers set the tone on the mound with four strong innings of one-run ball.
Elsewhere, Grant edged West Linn, 3-2, and Willamette pulled out a 100-9 squeaker over Sheldon. West Linn is now 2-5 on the season, 2-4 in games decided by two or fewer runs.
In 5A, No. 1 Thurston blanked West Albany, 6-0, to improve to 2-0 against Oregon competition. North Eugene won a big game, downing No. 7 Crescent Valley / Kings Valley Charter, 18-14, in a slugfest; and No. 9 Central lost a 3-1 game at 6A Century.
In 4A, No. 1 Junction City won by nine or more runs for the fifth time by blanking Elmira, 10-0.
No. 10 Stayton improved to 6-1 with a 10-0 win over a very good Estacada team. The Eagles got two-run home runs from Ryland Thiessen and Ben Bjornstedt as part of a big fourth inning, in support of Colton Connally, who scattered five hits over five innings.
In 3A, No. 3 Creswell went down to Horizon Christian of Tualatin, 3-2, while No. 6 Regis handed No. 2 Monroe / Alsea its first loss of the season in 2A/1A, a 5-4 decision in the second game of a doubleheader.
News and notes…
Crater will face Bullard of Fresno (10-4) today in the finals of the 36-team Fresno Easter Classic. The Comets made the championship game after three blowout wins over California opponents. Jay Campbell’s team has tasted defeat only once in the early season, 6-5, to 6A No. 10 South Medford…
Valley Catholic walked off Gaston, 2-1, yesterday on a double by Connor Miller. That completed a two-run surge in the bottom of the seventh for the Valiants that also included a Luke Ehmke sac fly. The rally made a winner of Brandon Yee, who took a no-hitter to the seventh inning and struck out 14 while going the distance…
Ida B. Wells went 3-1 in Anaheim over Spring Break. The Guardians won their last two games, both close, thanks to saving work from junior RHP Noah Johnson, who notched successive saves on just 15 pitches out of the pen. The second save, versus Grand Terrace of California, required just one pitch, as Johnson induced a game-ending 4-6-3 double play with the bases loaded to preserve a 6-5 win. Lucas Marr, Walter Robinson and Jack Burnham were all involved in the twin killing…
Toledo competed in the Scio Tournament over Spring Break and finished 2-1. The Boomers squandered a 10-0 lead in dropping their opener to Harrisburg, 13-10, but rebounded with wins over Santiam and the host school.
Riley Tyler led the charge at the plate, collecting nine hits over the three games to raise his season batting average to an impressive .500. He also earned the win on the mound in the victory over Scio.
johnt@osaa.org
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