Sweet Home’s baseball squad dropped two games late last week, to Central on Thursday, May 1, and to Philomath on Friday, May 2.
Philomath 15, Sweet Home 6
Sweet Home scored two runs in the first inning and Shelby Johnston got the Huskies off to a good start on the mound, blanking the Warriors for three innings before Philomath got on the scoreboard with a run in the top of the fourth.
But in the fifth, a bad-hop single got things rolling for the ninth-ranked Warriors, who started hitting, finishing the inning with 10 runs and a 11-2 lead. Though the Huskies came back with four runs of their own in the bottom of the inning, it was not enough.
“I thought our kids played hard,” Coach Dan Tow said.
Brad Valloni had a good day at the plate, going 2 for 3 with a two-run home run and three RBIs. JP Williams added two singles in three at-bats.
Leif Erickson and Greg Sipe pitched in relief for the Huskies, (6-10, 1-7) who finish their league season by hosting Taft on Tuesday afternoon, May 6, and Newport on May 13.
Sweet Home 200 040 0 – 6 7 1
Philomath 000 110 0 x – 15 13 1
Central 11, Sweet Home 8
In an offensive barrage from both teams, Central came away with the win after shelling JP Williams and reliever Greg Sipe for 15 hits on Sweet Home’s home field.
“”We hit the ball pretty well, but they just hit it better,” Tow said of the Huskies’ 12-hit output. Both teams played pretty good defense and there was just a lot of offense.
“We had a lot of guys come in and hit the ball for us.”
Central got on the scoreboard first with three runs in the third inning. The Huskies responded with a run in the bottom of that inning, but the Panthers continued to add runs in the next three innings, capping it with six runs in the sixth inning to lead 11-4.
The Huskies didn’t go down easily, erupting for four runs in the bottom of the seventh, but it was too little too late.
Tyler Horner went 2 for 4 with a home run and two RBIs to lead the Huskies offensively. Brad Valloni also went 2 for 4, with a double and a single, and Greg Sipe added two singles in five trips to the plate, while Josh Slay took advantage of a single at-bat
Central got two home runs and two doubles from Travis Heide.
Marcus McAndle got credit for the win.
Sweet Home 001 030 4 – 8 12 1
Central 003 116 0 – 11 15 2