Sweet Home dominated a Junction City baseball team down on its luck Monday evening, winning 13-1 under the 10-run rule on the road.
On Friday, the Huskies beat Sutherlin 8-6 and 8-1 in a doubleheader on the road.
Sweet Home is 7-3 in league following the games and 11-4 overall. The Huskies are third in league behind Cottage Grove, 8-4, and Sisters, 10-1. They are ranked 10th in the statewide OSAA rankings, while Sisters is first and Cottage Grove is second.
Junction City is 6-5 and in fourth place in the Sky-Em League. Elmira and Sutherlin are tied for fifth with records of 1-10.
The Huskies were scheduled to play at Junction City Monday evening and then to travel to Elmira Tuesday. They will travel to Sisters next Tuesday.
Sweet Home 13, Junction City 1
“They’re usually pretty tough,” said Coach John Best, but due to a flu bug, the Tigers were down to five varsity starters, with JV players filling in. “We were hitting. They were walking us.
“The first couple of innings, we were OK. We weren’t quite what I wanted us to look like.”
The Huskies scored a pair of runs out of the gate and another in the second inning, Best said. They were scoreless in the third, and Junction City scored its only run when Jesse McClintock singled to score a runner who reached base on an error and advanced on a fielder’s choice.
That’s when Best challenged his team to step up, and the Huskies blew 10 runs across the plate in the fourth inning.
The game ended in the fifth under the 10-run rule when Junction City failed to score a run.
At bat, Keegan Holly hit a double. Kobe Olson had two runs. Daniel Virtue went 2-2. Keanu Aiona went 2-4 with a triple. Colton Smith and Austin Smith each went 2-3, and Nate Virtue singled.
McClintock had Junction City’s only hit.
On the mound for Sweet Home, Devin Stafford pitched four innings, giving up one hit and one earned run. He struck out six. Fisher Anderson pitched the final inning, collecting to strikeouts.
Freshman Billy Dotson started on the mound for Junction City. Levi Silbernagle pitched the fourth inning, and McClintock finished the game. They gave up 12 hits, six walks and hit a batter three times.
Sweet Home 210 (10)0 – 13 12 1
Junction City 001 0 0 – 1 1 4
Sweet Home 8, Sutherlin 6
The Huskies were prepared, Best said, but “our energy wasn’t there.”
Sutherlin got out ahead of the Huskies in the second inning. The Huskies tied the score 1-1 in the top of the third inning, but Sutherlin got ahead again with two more runs.
“We really had to crawl back out on that one,” Best said.
Nick Marler hit a three-RBI double in the top of the fourth to give the Huskies a 4-3 advantage, but Sutherlin tied the game up again in the bottom of the inning.
The Huskies finally broke free and secured their win in the fifth inning.
Olson led off with a walk followed by singles from Aiona and Daniel Virtue. Smith drove in the go-ahead run on a fielder’s choice.
The Huskies scored twice more and then again in the sixth to lead 8-4. Sutherlin brought home two runners in the seventh to end the game.
Collecting hits in the game were Marler, Virtue, Ainoa, Smith, James and Nate Virtue. Sutherlin had eight hits.
Nate Virtue pitched 4 2/3 innings and gave up four runs. Smith pitched 1 1/3 innings in relief, giving up two runs and striking out one batter. Stafford pitched the final inning and struck out two batters.
Sweet Home 001 331 0 – 8 6 1
Sutherlin 012 100 2 – 6 8 1
Sweet Home 8, Sutherlin 6
Sweet Home got a handle on Sutherlin quicker in the second game, scoring three times in the second inning to take a 3-0 lead although Best said he still felt like the team’s energy was still a little low.
Smith led off the second inning with a walk. Austin James doubled, and Marler singled to send Smith home.
The Huskies capitalized on a couple of errors to score two more runs. They scored again in the fifth inning and closed out the game with three more runs. Sutherlin scored once in the final inning.
James led Sweet Home hitting with two hits, including a double. Smith doubled. Collecting singles were Marler, Aiona and Nate Virtue.
Daniel Virtue pitched nearly a complete game.
“He did a fabulous job,” Best said. Based on his pitch count, Best sent Stafford to the mount to close up the game.
Virtue struck out four batters, gave one earned run and four hits. Two batters were hit by pitches and walked.
Stafford pitched just twice to one batter to end the game.
Sweet Home 030 020 3 – 1 7 0
Sutherlin 000 000 1 – 8 4 3