Newport 15, Sweet Home 2
The Huskies ended their baseball season with a 15-2 loss at home to a strong Newport club.
“I thought J.P. (Williams) came out and pitched well,” Coach Dan Tow said. “Newport just hits the ball really well, and they did that today.
“We played good defense and battled, but they are league champs for a reason. Their pitching is excellent, and they really swing the bats.
“Tyler Horner really battled at the plate today and came through with two hits.”
At bat, Horner went 2-3, and Steven Bidwell and Dustin Horn each went 1-1.
Newport led 7-0 after three innings. The Huskies scored their three runs in the bottom of the third. Newport followed up with eight more runs in the fourth.
Williams was the losing pitcher. Greg Sipe pitched in relief.
Winning pitcher was Eddie Crowe. Cody Durdan and Joe Crowe pitched in relief.
“Obviously league-wise, we didn’t do very well,” Tow said. “Us and Taft were at the bottom of league.”
Sweet Home and Taft both finished with 2-10 records.
Going into the season, Tow said, the team knew that Central, Philomath and Newport were all coming in with experience.
“The majority of our team was young kids,” Tow said. Five of them are sophomores.
The team returned three players, including Sipe and Horner, who had starting experience.
The Huskies turned in a more impressive performance during their non-league schedule when they won five and lost two.
“Weather killed us this year,” Tow said. “We lost out on a lot of opportunities to play non-league games.”
The Huskies performed well defensively, not counting pitching, Tow said, with a .942 fielding average. The pitching staff gave up hits, but generally, the team committed few errors and gave up only earned runs.
Tow is optimistic about next year.
“We return most of our varsity team,” he said. “Our JV and freshman teams were both excellent this year.”
The JV finished with a 15-3 record.
Graduating from the team this year are Sipe, Horn, Horner and Josh Slay.
“I was pleased with the season we had and with what the kids did,” Tow said.
Earning all-league honors were Sipe, second-team infield; Horner, second team outfield; and Williams, honorable mention infield.
Newport 304 80 – 2 4 1
Sweet Home 003 00 – 2 4 1