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By Ben McCarty
News staff writer
May 7, 2008
Two games, two completely different stories for the HRV baseball
team.
On Friday, the Eagles blasted Reynolds 23-11 behind an offensive
attack that included four home runs, two of them by Jeremy
Rowley.
The Eagles could have used a few of those runs on Monday, when
they fell 9-1 to Centennial.
The dominant win followed by a lack of offense served to keep
the back end of the Mount Hood Conference playoff race muddled
as the season heads into its final week.
The Eagles are currently 7-8 in league play and in fifth place,
just ahead of sixth-place Sandy.
However, the Eagles are also a game behind Barlow and two games
back of Reynolds, who are in fourth and third place,
respectively.
Despite being shellacked by HRV on Friday, Reynolds did the
Eagles a favor on Monday by beating Sandy to keep the Pioneers
from moving into a statistical tie with HRV for the fifth and
final playoff spot.
Against Reynolds, the Eagles struck early and often, with Rowley
giving the Eagles an early 3-1 lead with a three-run home run in
the first inning.
The Eagles then put a seven spot on the board in the second,
five more runs in the third, three in the fifth and five more in
the sixth.
And despite all of that, the win did not come easily.
Trailing by 16 runs in the sixth inning, Reynolds cut the
deficit in half with an eight-run frame, but the Eagles answered
with five of their own and Ryan Nelson entered the game to
extinguish the Reynolds’ bats.
It was the first game in over a month for Nelson, who suffered a
head injury five weeks ago.
The game also marked the return of second baseman Jordan Bryant,
who returned after being hit in the eye with a warm-up throw two
weeks ago.
The entire Eagles lineup collected at least one RBI in the game,
with Brandon Nelson, Elliott Sherrell, and Rowley collecting
four each, Dylan Tiss and Thomas Nickel collecting two each, and
Travis Carratt, Jordan Bryant, Sam Kopecky and Juan Mendiola
getting one each.
In addition to Rowley’s two home runs, the Eagles also got four
baggers from Brandon Nelson and Sherrell.
The Eagles are scheduled to travel to Gresham today, and then
face a critical game in Sandy on Friday.
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