By BEN MCCARTY
News staff writer
April 23, 2008

It may continue to present episodes of Sesame Street, but it is doubtful a Hood River Valley baseball game will ever be brought to you by the number four.

Not after a messy 13-12 loss to Centennial on Friday anyway.

Centennial put up four-run frames three times –– in the first, second and sixth innings –– and then got a solo home run from Cam Glasser in the seventh for the winning run in a 13-12 win on Friday

It was gut-wrenching defeat for Hood River Valley, which scored eight runs in the third inning to go up 12-8 at that point, but could not hold the lead.

The game may have featured plenty of offensive fireworks, but that did not mean anyone was staying particularly warm.

The temperature at Traner Field hovered in the high 30s, and periodic rain burst and snow flurries kept players and coaches cold and wet –– and turned the infield into a mess –– as the game dragged out to nearly three-and-half hours.

“It was just one of those games,” HRV coach Chris Albertson said wistfully after it was all over.

Both teams did their best to give the other side a victory by scoring runs and then giving them all back, and it was not until Markus Martin got Junior Alaniz to ground back to him on the mound for the final out that either team could be certain of the outcome.

Martin was the only pitcher for either side who had a day to even consider remembering, pitching 3 2/3 scoreless innings to shut down an Eagle pitching staff that had battered Centennial pitching before he entered with one out in the fourth.

“Markus really did the jobs today on one of those days when the conditions were horrible,” Centennial coach Brent Child said.

The weather was only one of a few strange elements in the game.

In the second Glasser hit a bases-clearing double to account for most of Centennial’s four runs that inning, but both he and several of his teammates believed it should have counted for more. They thought the ball cleared the wall in right center field, hit a tree and rolled back onto the field under a hole in the outfield wall.

In the end it would not matter, as Glasser hit a no-doubter in the sixth, on a two-out pitch from Brandon Nelson that easily cleared the right field wall.

The fact that the slugfest wound up being decided by one run stung for Albertson, considering HRV had the bases loaded with one out in the sixth and could not get a run in.

Jordan Bryant reached on a walk, Nelson on a single and Thomas Nickel followed with another walk.

Elliott Sherrell then hit a ground ball to second base, and Bryant was forced out at home on a fielder’s choice.

Jeremy Rowley then struck out to end the threat.

“We had our opportunities,” Albertson said. “We just did not get it done.”

Against Gresham on Thursday, things were going well for the Hood River Valley defense through five innings.

The Eagles turned a pair of double plays to get out of jams and hold on to a one-run lead.

But in the fifth, the wheels came off, the sky fell, the train jumped the tracks and the cart went into the ditch. Or some combination of the above.

Gresham took advantage of five Eagle errors in the inning to score six runs, and were on their way to a 9-2 win.

“It’s the same story, different day,” HRV coach Chris Albertson said. “We were playing a great game and then we had a few errors and our morale collapsed.”

The nightmare inning for the Eagles unfolded quickly once Kyle Elkins led off the inning with a single. After Michael Milhoff grounded into a fielders choice, Zach Brown followed with a ground ball to third. Garrett Garvin’s attempt to start a 5-4-3 double play instead pulled second baseman Rauol Munos off the bag, keeping both runners on base.

When Thomas Rics stepped to the plate, the Gophers executed a double steal. HRV catcher Thomas Nickel’s throw to third base was on target, but Garvin dropped the ball trying to make the tag.

Rics then hit a ground ball to second, and Munos bobbled and then kicked the ball, bringing in the first two runs of the inning. Andy Smith and Brandon Dooley then followed with back-to-back singles to score another run.

The Gophers then ran another double steal and Nickels throw to third base was again dropped.

Shawn Ell then dropped a bunt that pitcher Dylan Tiss fielded and threw high to first base, pulling Travis Carratt off the bag and scoring another run.

A balk was then called on Tiss bringing in another run and Mickey Inns then followed with a single to finish the inning’s damage.

“When you fight hard and you’re with a team you can’t afford to make mistakes,” Albertson said. “Then it just becomes a domino effect.”

It was the second gut-wrenching loss for the Eagles in four days, and also had its strange moments.

Starting second baseman Jordan Bryant had to be scratched from the game before it even started when a warm-up throw from Nickel hit him the face.

That left the Eagles scrambling to get Munos over from the JV field to play second base.

With two tough losses in a row, Albertson knows they are now entering a critical point in their season if they want to stay in the Mount Hood Conference playoff race.

“We have to be stronger mentally,” he said. “If we have an error we need to fight back.”