The Huskies collected a pair of wins on the road last week in baseball, defeating La Pine 3-1 on May 5 and Cottage Grove 9-2 on May 7, to tie the Cottage Grove Lions for second in the Sky-Em League.
Monday, they lost 10-9 to the Lions at home in an eight-inning match that likely settled second place in the league.
With a little help, the Huskies could still reach second place. The Huskies, 7-6, are scheduled to play Junction City, 5-8, twice this week, on the road Tuesday and in their final home game on Friday. Cottage Grove, 8-5, faces Elmira, 5-8, twice. If the Huskies win both games and Elmira wins a game, the Huskies will tie Cottage Grove. Sweet Home defeated the Lions in two out of three games this season.
Cottage Grove 10,
Sweet Home 9
The Huskies opened the game with a ceremony honoring former pitcher Tyler Holly, who will deploy with the National Guard to Afghanistan on May 20.
Following a performance of the National Anthem by Blair Galick of Sweet Home, Holly threw out the first pitch.
“It was a great game,” said Coach Matt Matuszak. “It was just back and forth between two great baseball teams.”
The Lions scored a run in the first inning, but the Huskies answered with three runs in the bottom of the second to take the lead. The teams tied up at 4-4 in the third and 5-5 in the fourth.
Cottage Grove scored four in the top of the sixth inning, and the Huskies answered in the bottom of seven to tie the game 9-9. Cottage Grove scored an unanswered run in the eighth to close out the game.
At bat, Brett Blachly hit two doubles with two RBIs and a run. Kevin Seiber hit a double with an RBI, and J.T. Weld went 2-4, hitting a double with two RBIs and a run. Justin Tow singled twice with an RBI and a run. Colyn Van Eck singled with two runs, and Cole Ashcraft singled with a run.
Austin Rice hit an RBI and scored a run, reaching base three times on walks. Keanu Aiona walked twice and scored two runs.
Ashcraft was starting pitcher, giving up seven hits and three walks while striking out three in four innings. He gave up five earned runs.
Pitching in relief, Devin Stafford threw one inning, giving up one hit. Tyler Funk pitched a partial inning, giving up a hit, an unearned run and a walk. Brandon Keenon closed out the game, collecting the loss, striking out five, and walking three while giving up one hit and four runs, none earned.
Cottage Grove 103 104 01 – 10 10 4
Sweet Home 031 100 40 – 9 9 2
Sweet Home 9,
Cottage Grove 2
Rice went 2-4 with a homerun, a double, three RBIs, two runs and six assists, including a clutch bases-loaded double play.
Blachly went 4-4 with a double with two runs, and the Huskies committed no errors as they dominated Cottage Grove.
The Huskies built a 7-2 lead by the bottom of the fourth inning and then added another run in the sixth and seventh to beat Cottage Grove 9-2.
Also hitting were Tow with an RBI; Keenon with a triple and two RBIs; and Van Eck with a double. Seiber knocked in an RBI.
Ashcraft pitched seven innings, striking out four, walking two and giving up seven hits and two earned runs.
Sweet Home 101 501 1 – 9 9 0
Cottage Grove 000 200 0 – 2 7 2
Sweet Home 3, La Pine 1
The Huskies scored their first run in the first inning and held a 1-0 lead until the bottom of the fifth when La Pine scored its only run. The Huskies scored twice in the final inning to win the game.
Weld hit a single and a double with an RBI and a run. Keenon doubled. Blachly had two hits with an RBI. Also hitting were Rice with a run, Tow and Seiber. Funk reached on a walk and scored a run.
Funk started on the mound, pitching five innings. He struck out six and walked two, giving up four hits and a run. Ashcraft closed out the game, striking out one and giving up one hit.
Sweet Home 100 000 2 – 3 8 5
La Pine 000 010 0 – 1 5 2