Sweet Home beat Newport 9-3 in the final game of the Yaquinia Baseball Classic in Newport after losing games to North Bend (11-2) and Henley (8-3) March 27 and March 28.
Opening with Henley, which is generally “super, super good” – currently ranked second in the state – “we came out fairly confident,” said Coach John Best, and Henley “put an eight spot up in the top of one.”
That didn’t stop the Huskies from making a game out of it.
“They battled like crazy,” Best said. “There’s not a lot of teams that would even try to come back from that.”
Sweet Home’s players fought back and did a really nice job, Best said.
“We talk about winning innings. We outplayed them the rest of the way. We won six of seven innings. We just lost the first one.”
That happened thanks to fielding errors and clutch hits on Henley’s part, Best said. Sweet Home played solidly the rest of the way.
North Bend was a tough loss, Best said. “I don’t know if we weren’t ready.”
Perhaps the Huskies were overconfident, he said.
“North Bend is good, but they weren’t that good. We made a lot of errors.”
That was uncharacteristic of Sweet Home, he said, but they trailed 4-0 after one inning.
“North Bend hit us well and put the ball in play,” Best said. “I feel like there weren’t a lot of earned runs there.”
Meanwhile the Huskies put up just three hits.
The Huskies didn’t play perfectly against Newport, but they played well, Best said. “Newport is a really good team – They’re scrappy. Their record doesn’t show it.”
Colton Smith led off the seventh with the first home run of the year for the Huskies, sparking a four-run inning, Best said, and Fisher Anderson threw a good ame.
The Huskies are 4-3 overall and 20th in the early state rankings. Around the Sky-Em League, Sutherlin is 6-3 and ranked 10th, and Junction City is 6-3 and ranked 19th.
The Huskies were scheduled to open league on Tuesday at Sutherlin, which is looking better than last year and always plays Sweet Home tough, Best said. After that, the Huskies travel to Junction City on Friday for a doubleheader.
Junction City looks like it’s playing some really good baseball, Best said. Last year, the Huskies though they’d sweep the Tigers, but Junction City swiped one game in the doubleheader.
The Huskies will travel to Cottage Grove, 3-5, on April 10 and return home to host Elmira at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. on April 13.
Henley 8, Sweet Home 3
Henley loaded bases out of the gate on a double, single and batter hit by pitch.
The Hornets started scoring when John Tacchini singled to left field, batting in Jake Overstreet and Kyle Hadwick. Blake Loney advanced to third, and Tacchini advanced to second on the throw, positing Henley to continue its eight-run inning.
The Huskies got out of it when Tacchini later grounded out to Smith, who was pitching.
In the bottom of the first, Keegan Holly doubled on a line drive to center field, and Nathan Virtue reached on an error by the pitcher, scoring Holly.
Virtue advanced on the same error and then to third base on a wild pitch. Smith grounded out to shortstop, scoring Virtue.
The Huskies scored their final run in the bottom of the fourth. Travis Thorpe doubled on a fly ball to left field. Zach Luttmer hit a line drive double to left field to score Thorpe.
The Huskies collected six hits on the game. Holly went 3-4 with a run, and Thorpe went 2-3 with a run. Luttmer and Austin James each had one hit. Smith and Luttmer were credited one RBI each.
Holly stole two bases, and James stole one.
Smith started on the mound, giving up eight hits, three walks and eight runs, five of them earned. He struck out four batters.
Anderson pitched 1 1/3 innings in relief, striking out one batter.
For Henley, Hayden Rasica threw four innings, allowing four hits, one walk and two runs, one earned. He struck out five.
Colby Barrington pitched on inning in relief. Overstreet pitched two, giving up a hit and striking out three.
Henley 800 000 0 – 8 8 3
Sweet Home 201 100 0 – 3 6 2
North Bend 11, Sweet Home 2
North Bend scored the first of four runs in the opening inning after a batter reached on an error. He advanced to second as the next batter grounded out to Virtue, who was pitching, and scored on a single.
Sweet Home scored in the bottom of three. Holly was hit by a pitch. Virtue reached on an error at third base, and Holly scored when Smith grounded out to second base. Virtue advanced to second on the play. He scored on a dropped third strike against James, who was out at first.
North Bend began pulling away in the fourth inning.
At bat, Thorpe went 1-3, and Smith went 1-2 with a double. Smith and James each had an RBI.
North Bend collected eight hits.
Virtue started the game, going four innings and giving up six hits, one walk and seven runs, none earned, and striking out one batter.
Terron Kopperud pitched 1 2/3 innings, giving up two hits, two walks and three earned runs, striking out one batter.
Nate Jeppsen pitched one inning, giving up a walk and a run and striking out one.
Three North Bend pitchers gave up two hits, four walks and two runs, none earned, while striking out seven.
North Bend 400 303 1 – 11 8 2
Sweet Home 002 000 0 – 2 2 7
Sweet Home 9, Newport 3
Newport took first-inning lead as Trenton Luckini led off reaching second base on an error. On two outs, Luckini stole third and scored on a single by Dylan Crowell.
Newport held onto its lead until the top of the third.
Virtue singled to reach base and scored on a double by Smith. Thorpe singled. He advanced to second and Smith scored on the throw. Luttmer singled to score Thorpe, giving the Huskies a 3-1 advantage.
The Huskies scored two more times in the next inning and then, sparked by Smith’s home run, four in the final inning to get the win.
The Huskies had 12 hits on the game, with Virtue leading the way, going 3-5 with an a double, an RBI and two runs.
Smith went 2-4 with a home run, a double, two RBIs and two runs. Thorpe went 2-4 with an RBI and two runs.
Anderson, Holly, Luttmer, James and Gavin Nichols each had one hit.
Recording additional RBIs were Holly, Luttmer and Nichols, with two. Nichols also scored two runs,, and James scored a run.
Anderson threw a complete game, giving up five hits, four walks and three runs, one earned, and striking out four batters.
Jacob Dobmeier pitched six innings for Newport, giving up seven hits, two walks and five runs, four earned, striking out nine. Jacob Riley pitched the final inning, giving up five hits, one walk and four earned runs.
Sweet Home 003 200 4 – 9 12 5
Newport 100 020 0 – 3 5 2