Hanging onto second place in Sky-Em baseball, Sweet Home slipped by Cottage Grove in the sixth inning to win the second game of a doubleheader 9-8 at home Friday after winning 5-2 in the first game.
The Huskies beat Elmira 4-2 on May 1 on the road.
Elmira and the second Cottage Grove game were close calls.
“We pulled it out,” said Coach John Best. Elmira “came out ready to go. They threw that (Bryson) Estrella kid against us. He did a good job on the mount. It took us a little bit to get the offense going.”
In the second game against the Lions, Cottage Grove, fighting for a playof spot against Sutherlin, jumped out to a quick four-run lead.
“We had to kind of fight to get back into it,” Best said. “Our guys just did a really good job of not giving up.”
The week leaves Sweet Home, 10-4, ranked 13th in the state and in second place behind Junction City, 12-2. Sisters is 9-5 in third place after beating Elmira 14-3. Elmira is 14-0.
Sweet Home was scheduled to face the Sisters Outlaws at home Tuesday. With the win against Elmira, second place in the Sky-Em League comes down to Tuesday’s game.
If Sisters beats Sweet Home, it will tie Sweet Home’s league record but win the tie with two wins this season against Sweet Home.
If Sweet Home beats Sisters, the Huskies will hold second place a game ahead of Sisters.
Winning that game, the Huskies likely will host a play-in game and the first round of playoffs, Best said.
Rounding out league standings, Sutherlin, 6-8 is in fourth. Cottage Grove, 5-9, is in fifth, and Elmira is last.
The Huskies will play a non-league game at South Albany Monday.
Sweet Home 9,
Cottage Grove 8
Lions leadoff batter Payton Frieze shot a home run to center field to give Cottage Grove a 1-0 lead in the second game of the doubleheader.
With two singles and another double, the Lions scored again and then twice more on another single to build a 4-0 lead in the top of the first.
The Huskies and Lions each went three up, three down, and in the bottom of the second inning Sweet Home put runs on the board on a sacrifice by Zach Zanona to score Travis Thorpe, who reached on a single.
Nick Marler doubled on a fly ball to left field, knocking in Colton Smith, who doubled on a fly ball to right field to reach base.
Cottage Grove scored three runs in the fourth inning, while Zanona scored on an error to trail 7-3 in the bottom of four.
The Lions scored their final run in the fifth inning. In the bottom of the fifth, Koltin Britton struck out Nathan Virtue and then gave up four walks, scoring Zach Luttmer. Marler hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Smith. Fisher Anderson singled to score Zanona and bring the Huskies within a run of the Lions.
Sweet Home tied the game 8-8 in the bottom of the sixth after Virtue walked and Luttmer singled, scoring Virtue on the throw. Zanona singled on a bunt, scoring Luttmer and going ahead 9-8.
The Huskies collected 10 hits, led by Thorpe and Marler, who each went 2-3, Marler with two RBIs and Thorpe with two runs.
Hitting once were Virtue, Luttmer, Smith, Zanona, Anderson and Austin James.
Smith, Marler and James each hit doubles.
Zanona had three RBIs. Marler had two. Luttmer and Anderson each had one RBI.
Luttmer, Thorpe, Smith and Zanona each had two runs, and Virtue had one.
Hunter Sharkey led Cottage Grove going 3-4 with a run.
Virtue got the start for the Huskies, going four innings and giving up a walk, eight hits and seven runs, five earned, with three strikeouts. Nate Jeppsen threw one out, giving up a walk and an unearned run. Anderson closed out the game and got the win, going 2 2/3 innings and giving up a walk and a hit with two strikeouts.
For the Lions, Britton went 4 1/3 innings, giving up five walks, five hits and second runs, six earned, with three strikeouts. Jayden Lydick pitched in relief, giving up a walk, five hits and two earned runs.
Cottage Grove 400 310 0 – 8 9 1
Sweet Home 020 142 x – 9 10 5
Sweet Home 5,
Cottage Grove 2
Frieze led off with a single, stole second base and scored on a shot to left field by Wyatt Sayles, giving the Lions a 1-0 lead in the first inning.
Sweet Home quickly fixed the situation, with Keegan Holly leading off with a single. Virtue was hit by pitch, and Luttmer walked to load bases. Thorpe hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Holly. Smith singled with Luttmer scoring on the throw, giving the Huskies a 2-1 lead.
Sweet Home added another pair of runs in the second and one more in the third. The Lions scored their final run in the top of the fifth.
Smith led Sweet Home at bat, going 2-2 with an RBI. Also hitting were Holly, with two runs; Virtue, with two runs; Thorpe with three RBIs; Marler with one run; and James with an RBI. Thorpe hit a double, and James hit a triple.
Frieze led at bat for the Lions, going 2-2 with two runs.
On the mound, Smith went five innings, giving up four walks, five hits and two earned runs with six strikeouts. Anderson pitched the final two innings, giving up two hits and striking out three.
Conner Browning pitched a complete game for the Lions, giving up four walks, seven hits and five runs, three earned, with two strikeouts.
Cottage Grove 100 010 0 – 2 7 1
Sweet Hmoe 221 000 x – 5 7 0
Sweet Home 4, Elmira 2
While Sweet Home scored a run in the first inning on a double by Luttmer to score Holly, Elmira’s Bryson Estrella hit a fly ball to center field to score Bryce Sawyer and Manny Massengill and go ahead 2-1.
In the top of the fifth inning, Virtue led off with a single. Luttmer scored him on a line drive to right field to tie the game 2-2. Thorpe sacrificed to first base to advance Luttmer, and Smith tripled on a line drive to right field, scoring Luttmer and going ahead 3-2.
Sweet Home scored one more time on a sacrifice to the catcher by Virtue to score James in the top of the sixth inning.
Leading at bat were Holly, Luttmer and Smith with two hits each. Holly had one run. Luttmer had a double, run and two RBIs, and Smith had a triple and an RBI.
Virtue, Thorpe and James each recorded one hit, Virtue with a run and an RBI and James with a run.
C.J. Smith and Estrella each had one hit to lead Elmira at bat.
For Sweet Home, Zanona pitched a complete game, giving up two unearned runs on two hits and three walks while striking out three batters.
For Elmira, Estrella went seven innings, giving up two walks, nine hits and four runs, three earned, with six strikeouts.
Sweet Home 100 021 0 – 4 9 2
Elmira 200 000 0 – 2 2 2