Sweet Home high school summer baseball ended on the road July 14 with a pair of heartbreakers, with opponents coming back from behind in the last inning to scratch out wins.
West Albany beat the Huskies 6-5 in the final inning, said Coach Matt Matuszak. The Huskies faced Corvallis next, losing their lead in the seventh and then going into extra innings to lose 7-6.
“We were leading in both games,” Matuszak said. “Great games, really.”
Daniel Virtue pitched well in the first game, Matuszak said. Varsity veteran Cole Ashcraft held down Corvallis. In both cases, though, the Huskies had to go deeper into their stable than they would have liked, and pitching wavered, giving their opponents a chance to catch up.
The Huskies won about half of their 16 games this summer, Matuszak said. “Everything’s been going good. We’ve been playing some really good competition.”
Their schedule has faced teams from the top end of the 4A division as well as 5A and 6A teams, Matuszak said. The Huskies were among the smaller teams in the league.
Pitchers have included program veterans Ashcraft, Virtue, Devin Stafford, Tyler Funk and Ryan Krause, Matuszak said. Ashcraft, Stafford and Funk are likely varsity returners.
Brett Blachly, Justin Tow, Colyn Van Eck and Keanu Aiona were big hitters this summer, Matuszak said.
With summer activities and vacations, the lineup was in flux throughout the season, which led to some inconsistency in the win column, Matuszak said, and “we’ve won against some very good programs this year.”
Among them were Dallas, Philomath and Crescent Valley.