Sweet Home split a pair of tough games last week in baseball, winning 4-3 against Elmira and losing 5-3 to Cottage Grove, while soundly defeating Junction City 6-1.
The Huskies end the week 3-3 in league and tied with Sisters for third place behind Elmira with a 4-2 record and Cottage Grove with at 5-1. Junction City trails with a record of 2-4, and Sutherlin is in last place at 1-5.
The Huskies hold a 9-5 record overall, while Sisters is 6-6, Elmira is 10-4, and Cottage Grove is 10-5.
Sweet Home was scheduled to face Elmira at home Tuesday.
They previously lost to Elmira 8-2 at home, on April 4.
The Huskies will finish the week at Sisters, then will host Sisters next Tuesday. Sisters defeated the Huskies 3-1 at Sisters earlier this season.
Sweet Home 4, Elmira 3
The Huskies defeated Elmira 4-3 on the road on Friday.
“Elmira has a good team, and this was a really good team victory for us tonight,” said Coach Dan Tow. “We got a great effort on the mound tonight from Devin Stafford and were able to score just enough runs to get the win.”
“We got in a jam right off the bat in the first inning, but then we threw a guy out at the plate and picked a guy off third to get out of it with only one run given up.”
Sweet Home tied the game in the top of two and added more runs in the fourth and fifth innings, while Elmira scored once each in the sixth and seventh innings.
In seven innings, Stafford struck out six batters and gave up no walks. He gave up seven hits and thre runs, one of them earned.
Kellen Smith pitched seven innings for Elmira, giving up sevn hits and three walks. He struck out two Huskies and gave up four runs, three of them earned.
Leading at bat for the Huskies were Desmond Ely and Keanu Aiona, with two each. Ely had an RBI, and Aiona scored two runs.
Contributing one hit each were Jake Long, Kobel Olson, Justin Tow with an RBI and Brandon Keenon with a run. Austin James scored a run. Stafford had an RBI.
Leading the way for Elmira was Kyle White, who went 303 with a run.
Sweet Home010 210 0 – 4 8 3
Elmira100 001 1 – 3 7 1
Sweet Home 6, Junction City 1
The Huskies beat Junction City 6-1 at home on April 13.
The Huskies scored their first run in the second inning and expanded their lead by three in the third inning. Junction City finally scored one run in the last inning.
“We actually got at least one hit from almost every guy in our lineup,” Tow said. “So it was a very good balanced offensive team effort. Dan Virtue had a couple hits tonight, and Keanu Aiona had a big two-run blast in the third inning.”
Also hitting were Ely, Olson, James, Stafford and Tow. Keenon scored two runs. Also scoring were Aiona, Olson, Virtue and Tow.
Keenon had a great outing, giving up only three hits, Tow said. “And our defense played really well behind him. We had three double plays, and I thought our infield was really pretty good, particularly up the middle with all the double plays being turned by Justin Tow and Kobe Olson.”
Keenon threw all seven innings, giving up one earned run, walking three and striking out three.
Junction City 000 000 1 – 1 3 2
Sweet Home013 110 0 – 6 9 2
Cottage Grove 5,
Sweet Home 3
Cottage Grove defeated the Huskies 5-3 in Sweet Home on April 11.
Cottage Grove scored a pair of runs in the first inning. The Huskies answered with a run each in the bottom of the first and second to tie the game 2-2.
No one scored again till the fifth, when Cottage Grove scored a pair of runs. The Huskies scored in the bottom of the inning, and Cottage Grove rounded out the game with one more run in the sixth.
“We battled hard in this one and had a few big hits, but Cottage Grove had a few more hits than we did,” Tow said. “Danny battled hard on the mound, and Devin threw well in relief. But we just couldn’t get it done. We had a few miscues on defense, but we also picked them off the bases several times when they got a little too aggressive.
“We haven’t been playing bad baseball, but we can perform better. We need to come through and drive in runs when we have the opportunities.”
The Huskies collected eight hits, with two each from Aiona, who hit two doubles, and Stafford. Earning a hit each were Ely with a home run; Virtue and Keenon; each with a double; and Long. Ely, Long and Virtue scored runs, while Ely and Aiona each collected an RBI.
Virtue pitched five innings, giving up nine hits, five earned runs and three walks, while striking out four. Stafford gave up a hit and a walk and struck out two.
For Cottage Grove, Hunter Harris led at bat, hitting three times with two RBIs, a double and two runs.
On the mount, Brett Ollivant gave up seven hits, three earned runs and two walks to Huskies batters, and he struck out five. Harris pitched an inning in relief, striking out two Huskies.
Cottage Grove 200 021 0 – 5 11 1
Sweet Home110 010 0 – 3 8 4