The Huskies held a tenuous lead against Newport in the second round of state baseball playoffs until the bottom of the fifth inning when the Cubs took advantage of a couple of errors to get ahead and win 6-2 at Newport on May 25.
The Cubs’ defense quickly took down the Huskies first three hitters. Starting pitcher Gavin Kauffman walked Newport’s first batter. Newport’s next batter was forced out at first, but the Cubs advanced their runner to third. Casee Case popped up a double to centerfield to score the run to take a 1-0 lead.
Newport pitcher Logan Goins struck out David Deggelman to open the top of the second. Jeremy White reached base on a hit. Kyle Winslow sent him home on a double to tie the game. Drayson Scott singled Winslow over the plate to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead.
The Huskies defense quickly dispatched the Newport offense, with Kauffman striking out two batters then walking one. A fly out to center ended the inning.
Cory Hanks took over the mound for the Huskies in the third.
Both teams put runners on base in the third, but neither could bring a runner in. The drought continued into the fourth as Goins struck out three Huskies in a row. Goins struck out three more in the top of four.
Kauffman returned to the mound for the fifth, and Newport’s first batter popped the ball out to the left for an out. Travis DeRocher knocked a short shot down the third baseline and reached first. He took two bases on an overthrow meant to pick off DeRocher. Case singled to score DeRocher, tying the game.
Kauffman walked Cameron Holliday, with Case at third on an overthrown pitch.
Relieving Kauffman, Justin Rice struck out Newport’s Brett Lane, but hit Joey Jacques loading the bases. Matt Haynes doubled low to the right to score two runners and give Newport a 4-2 lead.
Holly reached base on a single groundball up the center, but the next three Huskies were forced out or struck out.
Newport added two more runs in the sixth inning with Hanks back on the mound.
“We just didn’t do a good job getting hits against Goins, their leftie,” said Coach Matt Matuszak. Goins struck out 13 Huskies.
“We had an opportunity to win the game,” Matuszak said, but a couple of big throwing errors and over-pitching gave Newport the window it needed to get ahead.
Newport has more experience, with six seniors, and it had the home field advantage, Matuszak said. The Huskies had five sophomores starting. Seven of nine starters weren’t seniors.
“Obviously, the first inning, we hit the ball better than the rest of the innings,” Kauffman said. He credited Goins pitcing to young hitters for it. “He’s just really good. It’s kind of hard to hit off a left-handed pitcher, especially as good as he is.”
“We just kind of came up short,” Matuszak said. “We needed a few bounces to go our way. Today, they had the bounces go their way.”
The Huskies switched pitchers four times, with Kauffman and Hanks making two appearances each.
“We know Newport is a very good hitting team, and wanted to keep them off balance,” Matuszak said. Hanks is a great “change-of-pace guy.”
Newport has had problems with Hanks before, Matuszak said. At the same time, the Huskies needed Kauffman in different parts of the game. Recovering from an injury, his stamina is low, keeping him at 50 to 60 pitches per game. Keeping the pitching position fluid allowed Matuszak to use Kauffman when he was needed.
“It was pretty effective for the first five innings,” Matuszak said.
“I was really happy with the way the kids dealt with it,” Matuszak said. They were two innings away from a second-round win at state. “All of the arrows pointed to Newport today. We still fought through that. I was very, very proud of them. I just love this group of kids. They work hard and have a lot of fun.”
“I thought we battled really hard, especially when everybody in the state thought we probably wouldn’t do well,” Kauffman said.
Winning pitcher Goins pitched a complete game for Newport, striking out 13 Huskies, walking none and giving up five hits and two runs.
On the mound, Kauffman gave up three walks and two hits and struck out three batters in two and one-third innings. Rice struck out two batters and gave up a hit in two-thirds of an inning. Hanks struck out two batters and gave up four hits in three innings. Rice was credited the loss.
At bat, White, Scott and Winslow each had a hit, Winslow and Scott with one RBI each and Winslow with a double. Holly had two hits.
The Huskies finish the season 12-11 overall and 8-7 in league.
Newport went on to defeat LaSalle in the quarter-finals on May 27 at Newport. Newport was scheduled to face North Valley of Grants Pass in the semi-finals on Tuesday. The winner of that game will face the winner of a game between Astoria and Baker in the championship game.
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