A tough week for Huskies baseball, Sweet Home lost a game at home against Sutherlin 5-0 on May 2 then beat Sutherlin 7-3 on the road.
Cottage Grove won close games against the Huskies 12-10 at home on May 4 and then 5-4 on the road Friday.
The Huskies are fourth place in league with a record of 5-8, while Sisters, 8-5, improved its record last week with three wins.
Elmira, 9-4, is in second, while Cottage Grove, 11-2 leads the league. Junction City, 4-9, is in fifth place.
The Huskies were scheduled to travel to Junction City on Tuesday and host Junction City on Friday.
Sutherlin 5, Sweet Home 0
“This was a rough one for us,” said Coach Dan Tow. “Their pitcher (McKnight) was very effective against us, holding us to only 4 hits and striking us out 9 times.
“We had a couple of good opportunities to score, but we couldn’t get the job done. I thought we had a couple nice plays defensively, but otherwise we struggled and looked a bit lethargic.”
Sutherlin scored three runs in the fourth inning and two more in the seventh.
Hitting the ball were Jake Long, Devin Stafford, Danny Virtue and Justin Tow. Stafford and Desmond Ely reached base on walks.
Virtue threw six innings, giving up seven hits, five walks and three runs, two of them earned. He struck out three batters.
Stafford, pitching an inning in relief, gave up two hits, two earned runs and two walks. He struck out one.
Sweet Home000 000 0 – 0 4 3
Sutherlin000 300 2 – 5 9 2
Sweet Home 7, Sutherlin 3
“We bounced back tonight with a good effort after a tough loss last night,” Tow said. “We got a very good game out of Brandon Keenon on the mound, and had some big hits tonight.”
Sutherlin scored two runs in the second inning to get things going. Sweet Home scored a pair of runs to tie the game.
The Huskies scored a run in the bottom of four to take a 3-2 lead.
“This was a tough back and forth game and we had a 4-3 lead after six innings,” Tow said. “But then we kind of gave ourselves some breathing room when we scored 3 runs in the top of the seventh inning.
“We had a few mistakes that allowed them to score a couple runs, but I also thought we made several really nice plays, particularly a couple plays by Devin Stafford at first base and Justin Tow at shortstop.”
Justin Tow went 2-3 with two doubles, a run and one RBI. Kobe Olson had two singles that both drove in runs, and Keanu Aiona went 2-4 with a single, a double and a run. Stafford hit the ball well with an RBI double, and he also scored two times. Virtue collected a hit and scored a run.
Long scored a run, and Keenon had an RBI and a run.
Cottage Grove 12, SH 10
“Both teams scored a lot of runs in this one, but we came up a little short,” Tow said. “We had at least one hit from every guy in our lineup, and we had four guys with two hits apiece from Kobe Olson, Dan Virtue, Justin Tow, and Keanu Aiona.
“I thought our kids competed hard, but Cottage Grove got some big hits, and capitalized on a few defensive mistakes that we made. Devin Stafford battled hard on the mound for us and I thought our kids competed well. We just couldn’t hold them down enough to get the win.”
Cottage Grove led 1-0 after one inning and 4-0 after the top of the third. The Huskies took a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the inning, but Cottage Grove scored four runs to lead 8-5.
By the bottom of the seventh, Cottage Grove led 12-6. The Huskies rallied to score four runs, but it wasn’t enough.
At bat, Aiona scored a run and had two RBIs; Olson had two runs and an RBI; Virtue, one RBI; Tow, one RBI and one run; Ely, a run and an RBI; Long, a run and an RBI; Austin James, a run; Virtue, one RBI; and Keenon, two runs and an RBI.
Cottage Grove103 402 2 – 12 12 2
Sweet Home005 100 4 – 10 13 2
Cottage Grove 5, SH 4
“This was really a great baseball game, but another tough one for us in the end,” Tow said. “We were down 4-0 and battled back to tie it at 4-4 in the top of the seventh inning.
“Cottage Grove managed to get a runner aboard in the bottom of the seventh and scored him on a single to right. The play at the plate was very close, but we didn’t quite get him. I thought Brandon Keenon threw very well for us and our kids battled and came up with some big hits late in the game to give us a chance.”
Cottage Grove scored two runs each in the second and fifth innings to build a 4-0 lead. The Huskies scored three in the top of the sixth to get within one.
Olson had a big double late in the contest, Tow said, and Virtue drove him in to tie the game in the seventh.
“Cottage Grove is in first place in our league, and we’ve played them very tough each time we’ve seen them, losing twice by two and tonight by one,” Tow said. “Those losses are tough to swallow, but our kids have competed well and just barely come up short. Credit to Cottage Grove for getting the job done.”
Stafford and Virtue each had two hits in the game, Stafford with an RBI and Virtue with an RBI and a run. Hitting once were Long, with a double, run and RBI; Justin Tow; and Keenon with an RBI and a run.
Keenon pitched a complete game, giving up a walk, seven hits and five runs, four earned. He struck out three.
Sweet Home 000 003 1 – 4 8 2
Cottage Grove020 020 1 – 5 7 2