Sweet Home’s varsity players ended their nearly year-and-a-half drought of baseball action last week with a 5-1 victory at Cascade, followed by a 6-5 loss at Santiam Christian.
“Overall, I thought the kids played very well,” Coach John Best said.
The game at Cascade, on Wednesday, Oct. 14, turned out to be a defensive win for the Huskies, who couldn’t produce much offense in the face of a barrage of walks and hit batters, Best said.
The win came on the mound, from senior pitchers Chase Lopez and Dawson Armstrong, freshman Nathan Aker and junior Russell Holly.
“We kind of played everybody in that game,” Best said, noting that Armstrong and Aker, who pitched three and two innings respectively, “looked really good.”
“It was our first outing in a year and a half. I was very pleased.”
At Santiam Christian on Thursday, the Eagles “were a very good opponent,” Best said, though Sweet Home stepped it up offensively.
Senior Tucker Weld hit a ground-rule double over the fence, freshman Jon Holly added another double and sophomore Casey Valoni contributed a two-baser as well.
“We had a lot of guys wit hits,” Best said. “It was a well-played baseball game.”
On the mound, Russ Holly three three “tough” innings and freshman Taiden Burger threw three more.
“I’ve been very impressed by the three freshman on the varsity fall team” – Jon Holly, Aker and Burger, Best said.
Lopez and Aiden Tyler each threw an inning to round things out for Sweet Home.
The varsity will play again Wednesday at Stayton, then will play for the first time in some 17 months at home Thursday against Pleasant Hill, with a possible make-up rematch with Santiam Christian on Monday – location yet to be determined.
“We’re almost done with fall but it’s been really fun,” Best said. “We’re getting the kids practice and they’ve definitely gotten better.”