Philomath got the best of Sweet Home last week in baseball, sweeping the Huskies in three games on Wednesday and Thursday.
On Wednesday at Philomath, the Warriors (6-6) shut out the Huskies for a 3-0 win. Then in a double header in Sweet Home the next day, the Warriors prevailed in the first game 14-8, winning in extra innings, and also took the second game, 19-8.
In a game when both starting pitchers went the distance, sophomore Huston Holly was the losing arm on Wednesday, giving up six hits and four walks while striking out two batters.
Philomath scored one run off of Holly in the third inning, one in the fifth, and a third run in the sixth. Senior Russell Holly hit 1-3 with a double in the game. Juniors Casey Valloni and Lewis Conn each had a single in the game.
“I thought our guys played hard,” Head Coach John Best said of the game. “We came up a little short. We just couldn’t get hits with guys on base.
“Huston threw very well for us and kept us in a close one. I thought Philomath’s Cam Ordway [the Warriors’ starting pitcher] was very tough today. He threw well and made big pitches when needed. He was also tough at the plate, going 3-3.”
The first game on Thursday was tied 6-6 after seven innings, before Philomath exploded for eight runs in the top of the eighth. Sweet Home’s two runs in the bottom of that inning weren’t enough.
Down 3-0 earlier in the game, Sweet Home scored six runs in the bottom of the third to take a 6-3 lead. But Philomath bounced back to tie the game with a run in the fourth inning and two in the sixth, pushing the game to extra innings after seven frames.
R. Holly pitched seven innings, recording nine strikeouts while giving up 4 hits and three walks. Senior Tucker Weld and juniors Hunter Ashby and Kaden Zajic came in to pitch in the eight inning after Holly, and struggled with control issues.
The relievers gave up seven walks in that inning, and Philomath needed only one hit to score its eight runs.
“We had Holly throw seven complete innings, and he was doing a really good job until the pitch count got the best of him,” Best said. “We ended up going into the bullpen, and we ran out of bullets from the pitching staff.”
Despite losing by six runs, Sweet Home had 10 hits to Philomath’s six.
“We just didn’t cash in with runners on and gave up too many free bases via the walk,” Best said.
Walks were again an issue for Sweet Home in the second game of the doubleheader, which Philomath took 19-8.
Zajic pitched two innings, Conn pitched four, and Weld pitched one, and the trio gave up 10 walks among them. The Husky bats didn’t help out the staff as much as was needed, as the Warriors outhit Sweet Home 12-3.
Still, the game was close until the seventh inning, with the score 11-8 Philomath, before the Warriors scored eight runs in that inning with four hits and four walks.
Sweet Home (2-8) is scheduled to host Sisters (5-6) on Wednesday, April 13 at 4:30 p.m., then travel to Sisters for a doubleheader on Thursday, April 14, with games at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.