The Huskies bounced back from an early deficit Friday at home in baseball against Junction City to finish second in the Sky-Em, and they will host Central in the state playoffs play-in game Friday at 4:30 p.m.
Sweet Home defeated Cottage Grove 7-3 on the road May 8.
The Huskies finished the regular season 12-13 overall and 10-5 in league. Elmira tied the Huskies in league play, but the Huskies won two of three games against Elmira to secure second.
Sweet Home coaches have scouted Central a couple of times, but they haven’t played against the Panthers, said Coach Matt Matuszak. Central is young, but the team has a lot of talent.
Like the Huskies, the Panthers started the season with a weak record, Matuszak said, but after settling into their new coach’s system, they bounced back and picked up a few more wins later in the season.
Central is 7-8 in the Oregon West Conference, which includes tough teams like Philomath, 15-0, and Newport, 9-6. Central finished ahead of Cascade, 7-8, by winning two of three games against the Cougars during regular season.
Central did a good job down the stretch, Matuszak said. “It’s going to be a great test. It’s going to be a great baseball game.”
It’ll come down to who executes the most and makes the least number of mistakes, he said.
The Huskies haven’t hosted playoff games too often in recent years, Matuszak said, so he is urging the community to come out and support the team.
Sweet Home 11, Junction City 6
The Huskies scored the first run in the first inning, but Junction City had a big inning against the Huskies in the top of the second, taking a 6-1 lead.
“They did a great job and hit the ball really well,” Matuszak said. Cory Hanks was pitching the ball high up in the zone, and the Tigers took advantage of it.
Junction City had a couple of shots blown out into no-man’s land, and then the Huskies gave up a couple of errors to give up the advantage in the game.
“I was very, very happy the way the kids bounced back,” Matuszak said. They put their heads down and went to work chipping away at the lead.
Sewet Home put together a seven-inning fourth quarter and never looked back.
At bat, Austin Rice went 2-3 with two runs, an RBI and a double. Jeremy White went 1-3 with three RBIs. Christian Voldbaek went 1-1 with an RBI. Hunter Bidwell went 2-4 with three runs. Justin Rice went 1-3 with a run, two RBIs and a double. Hanks went 1-4 with a run and double. Kyle Winslow went 1-4 with an RBI. Zach Gill went 1-1. Nate Melcher scored a run.
Hanks started the game, pitching 1-1/3 innings. He struck out one batter and gave up seven hits and four earned runs.
White pitched two innings, striking out three. J. Rice pitched 1/3 of an inning. Drayson Scott pitched 2-1/3 innings, striking out five, walking three and giving up one hit. Colton Holly pitched an inning, striking out one and giving up a walk.
Junction City 060 000 0 – 6 8 4
Sweet Home 100 730 0 – 6 8 4
Sweet Home 7, Cottage Grove 3
The Huskies captured a 3-1 lead in the second inning to solidify a 7-3 win against Cottage Grove.
At bat, A. Rice went 2-3 with a run. White went 1-2 with a run and an RBI. Bidwell went 2-4. J. Rice went 2-4 with an RBI. Nate Melcher went 1-3 with a run. Hanks went 1-3 with a run and an RBI. Winslow went 1-4 with an RBI. Holly scored two runs.
J. Rice started the game, pitching 6-1/3 innings, striking out 10 batters, walking two and giving up two hits. Hanks pitched the last two outs, striking out two and giving up two hits.
Sweet Home 030 010 3 – 7 10 3
Cottage Grove 010 101 0 – 3 4 3