In their first state baseball playoff win since 1991, the Huskies defeated Taft 4-1 Thursday on the road to advance to the next round of state playoffs round of 16 at Newport on Wednesday.
“We came out and jumped on them the first inning,” said Coach Matt Matuszak. “We got three runs and just did an outstanding job.”
Though they had a great start, things went awry in the top of the first inning when Justin Rice rolled his ankle at the plate.
The plan had been to run Gavin Kauffman on the mound to handle the first four batters in the lineup and then bring Rice in to handle the last five, but the injury sidelined Rice.
Kauffman pitched the first three innings.
Colton Holly did an outstanding job behind the plate, Matuszak said. He had a couple of spectacular plays throwing out base runners.
Cory Hanks pitched the fourth through sixth innings, Matuszak said, and 25 of 31 pitches were strikes.
Kauffman returned in the seventh and recorded the save as well as the win.
Kahn was the losing pitcher. Ehrenfelt caught for Taft.
The Huskies came up with some clutch hits and added an insurance run in the final innings. Taft scored its only run in the third.
Drayson Scott, Kauffman and David Deggelman each had two hits. Deggelman, Holly and Scott had one RBI each. Hunter Bidwell, Rice, Hanks and Kyle Winslow added a hit each. Bidwell, Hanks and Kaufman each had a stolen base.
On the mound, Kauffman struck out six batters, giving up three hits and three walks. Hanks struck out four batters, giving up one hit.
“I’m very pleased,” Matuszak said. “Overall, the kids played outstanding. The kids really rose to the challenge. To see the businesslike mentality that it took in our focus, I was just extremely pleased.” We knew we hadn’t won a playoff since 1991. We got in there and got the job done.”
The Huskies, eighth seed in bracket play, travel to Newport, first seed, on Wednesday, Matuszak said. The winner of that game plays La Salle or Phoenix.
Newport, the Oregon West Conference league champion, finished the season 15-0 in league play and 18-3 overall. Sweet Home was one of the three teams to beat the Cubs this year.
The Huskies are 12-10 overall and 8-7 in league.
Newport defeated the Huskies 12-5 and then lost 3-2 to Sweet Home in eight innings earlier this season.
“We’re as familiar with Newport as we are with anybody,” Matuszak said. The two teams have faced off six times in the past two years. Newport’s pitcher is ranked fifth in the nation, but the Huskies have handled him before.
“We’ve got a little bit of confidence,” Matuszak said. “We’re doing everything we can to work on things we need to improve. We’re very excited about the challenge.”
All-league selections were announced last week. Sweet Home winners included first-team selections Kauffman, infield; Holly, outfield; and White, outfield. Named to second team were Deggelman, infield; Rice, infield; and Winslow, first baseman.
“We were very happy with the results,” Matuszak said. Other than the league champion, Sisters, the Huskies received the most recognition in the Sky-Em.
Sweet Home 300 000 1 – 4 10 2
Taft 001 000 0 – 1 4 1