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HRV
plays at No. 2 Tualatin Friday at 5 p.m.
By Ben McCarty
News staff writer
May 14, 2008
It was an event nearly 10 years in the making.
After an up-and-down season that saw the Hood River Valley
baseball team lose some of its best players to injuries and
disciplinary issues, the Eagles defied the odds to reach the
state playoffs for the first time since 1999 with an 8-3 win
over Sandy on Friday.
“It feels awesome,” HRV senior catcher Thomas Nickel said after
the Eagles finished a brief celebration. “It’s been 10
years...It’s kind of overwhelming.”
After a Nickel two-run home run put the Eagles on the board in
the first, and the Pioneers responded with a run in their half
of the inning, HRV pitcher Elliott Sherrell and Sandy hurler
Trapper Feagle engaged in a pitching duel and held the offenses
scoreless through the next five innings.
Then the Eagles broke the game open in the top of the seventh
inning.
After pitching effectively after Nickel’s home run, things
unraveled quickly for Feagle and the Sandy pitching staff in the
seventh.
“It was great to see our guys step up,” HRV coach Chris
Albertson said. “In that last inning they showed they really
wanted it.”
Keanu Webb led off the inning with a base hit and Juan Mendiola
followed with another.
Feagle then exited and was replaced by Kyle Cargill, for whom
things went even worse.
Cargill walked Dylan Tiss to load the bases and Brandon Nelson
followed with a single to drive in two runs. After Cargill got
Nickel to fly out, Elliott Sherrell singled to score a run, and
Jeremy Rowley followed with another single for another run.
After Travis Carratt singled to load the bases, Connor Harris
came in to pitch for Sandy. Things did not go well for him,
either.
Jordan Bryant greeted him with a single to score a run, and
Rowley hit a sacrifice fly to drive in the final run of the
inning. The final toll: 11 Eagle batters to the plate, seven
runs, and seven hits — all singles.
“We just caught up to the first guy, and then they brought in
another and we caught him and then they had to bring in
another,” Nickel said.
Even with all the runs, the Eagles still had to dodge a scare in
the bottom of the inning.
The Pioneers loaded the bases with one out and Toby Manu singled
to drive in a run.
That sent Albertson to the mound to have a discussion with
Sherrell.
“I told him to just keep doing what he was doing, and that he
was doing fine,” Albertson said.
After one more run scored on an error, Sherrell set down Matt
Spanier and Kevin Trosko to clinch a playoff berth for HRV.
It capped off a resurrection of sorts for a team that has
struggled through recent years, has seen several coaches come
and go and was widely picked to finish last in the Mount Hood
Conference before the start of the season.
“You look at the polls before the start of the season and
everyone had us picked last, and now here we are ready for the
playoffs,” Nickel said.
The win gave the Eagles the chance to play for seeding position
on Monday, with a win possibly getting them as a high as third
in the league depending on other games.
The Eagles held up their end of the bargain by coming from
behind on senior day to beat David Douglas 6-5.
Trailing 2-1 heading into the fifth inning, the Eagles responded
with four runs off Douglas pitcher Brian Teague, all of which
came via singles, walks and sacrifice flies.
In the sixth, they were able to add an insurance of Douglas
reliever Jordan Bayless when a Nickel single brought in Mendiola
to score.
They would later need that run.
In the top of the seventh, Trevor Moore doubled to drive in two
one-out runs, and moved to third on a wild pitch. Dukart then
drove him in with a groundout. After Teague hit a bloop single
to center field, Jon Lauderbech grounded to second to end the
game.
The contest was the final regular season home game for HRV
seniors Jordan Bryant, Matt Neal, Thomas Nickel, Dylan Tiss,
Travis Carratt, Ryan Nelson and Jeremy Rowley.
Following the win the Eagles had to wait to see who they would
play on Friday. With Barlow and Reynolds losses, the Eagles
could move up to third. If both won, they would be fifth. They
wound up splitting the difference.
Reynolds won to clinch third, but Barlow lost, finishing the
season tied at 9-9 with the Eagles, but because HRV beat Barlow
twice, the Eagles took the third spot. That split could likely
be crucial in how long the Eagles last in the playoffs. Instead
of drawing a sub-.500 team from the PIL, the Eagles will instead
play at Tualatin on Friday.
The Timberwolves, the No. 1 seed in the Pacific League, are
ranked No. 2 in the state and finished the season with a 19-6
overall record and 12-3 in league play.
No matter who they played in the first round, Albertson told his
team after their win to close out the regular season that they
were ready to take on all challangers.
“The way the playoffs are set up, the better teams can go down,”
he said. “We might not have as much talent as North Medford or a
Tualatin, but we can certainly snag them.”
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