The Huskies slipped by Junction City 8-6 on the road on May 13 and then beat Junction City 11-3 at home on Friday to secure third place and a playoff spot.
Sweet Home, 9-6 in league and 14-9 overall, finishes behind Cottage Grove, 10-5, and the league champion, Sisters, 15-0.
Elmira and Junction City finished behind the Huskies, each with a 5-10 record. La Pine was 1-14.
The Huskiesm, 17th in Oregon Student Activities Associationr ankings, will travel to Estacada, ranked 16th with a 10-5 league record, on Thursday, said Coach Matt Matuszak. The game starts at 5 p.m.
Estacada is second in a four-way tie in league records in the Tri-Valley Conference. North Marion finished first, while Gladstone finished third and La Salle Prep was fourth.
Matuszak said he did know much yet about Estacada, but the Huskies are playing some of their best baseball, and they’ll do the best they can with the youth they got on the field.
“We looked all right,” Matuszak said. “I thought we really rose to the occasion on Friday. I didn’t think we played our best baseball on Tuesday.”
But Tuesday, he started a freshman pitcher, Devin Stafford, Matuszak said. Friday, the team had better focus.
“I think we’ve really done a good job of reaching our potential this year,” Matuszak said, especially given the team’s youth and inexperience.
The Huskies lost a non-league game at Blanchet Catholic 10-2 on Saturday.
Sweet Home 11, Junction City 3
At bat, Kevin Seiber went 3-4 with two RBIs. Bretty Blachly hit twice, including a double, two RBIs and three runs. Austin Rice hit a triple and scored a run.
J.T. Weld doubled twice and scored three runs. Colyn Van Eck doubled and scored three RBIs and a run.
Brandon Keenon singled once and walked twice to score three runs and an RBI. Justin Tow singled with an RBI. Cole Ashcraft and Dylan Elder also collected one hit each.
Keenon was winning pitcher. He struck out four and gave up two hits, four walks and a run, unearned, in three innings.
Elder pitched two innings in relief, striking out two and walking two. Tow pitched a partial inning, striking out one and walking one while giving up a hit and a run. Ashcraft pitched a partial inning, striking out one. D.J. Bidwell pitched a partial inning, striking out two, walking two and giving up a run.
Junction City 100 110 0 – 3 3 2
Sweet Home 434 000 0 – 11 13 1
Sweet Home 8, Junction City 6
At bat, Rice hit three times, doubling twice and scoring a run with two RBIs. Seiber, Van Eck and Tyler Funk each collected two hits. Seiber had a double with two runs. Van Eck had a pair of RBIs, while Funk had an RBI and a run.
Ashcraft singled with a run, while Weld walked and singled to score two runs. Keenon singled with two RBIs, and Blachly singled with an RBI. Justin Tow walked twice and scored a run.
Pitching, Stafford recorded the win, striking out seven, walking two and giving up nine hits and six runs in nearly six innings. Funk pitched in relief, giving up a walk.
Sweet Home 230 030 0 – 8 13 2
Junction City 400 002 0 – 6 9 0