Sweet Home started its state baseball play-in game Thursday at Estacada in charge of the momentum after the first four batters managed to score Austin Rice in the first inning, but the Rangers got hot late in the game and squeaked by the Huskies 6-5 on a four-run sixth inning.
“It was just a really great baseball game by two great baseball teams,” said Coach Matt Matuszak. Both teams executed well, and he thinks the Huskies had the Rangers six out of seven innings. Unfortunately, Estacada scratched out the win in a single inning.
“They battled and fought hard,” Matuszak said of his team. “They gave everything we had.”
The Huskies had a comprehensive scouting report, and each of them did a great job going out and responding to it.
“I really think the key was the first inning,” Weld said. Austin Rice singled, Weld laid down a sac bunt to advance him to second.
Brett Blachly singled to advance Rice to third, and Brandon Keenon sacrificed to score Rice and give the Huskies a 1-0 lead.
“I really think that set the town,” Weld said. Then Rice hit a homerun to regain momentum.
“It definitely gives you confidence when you can score in the first inning,” Rice said. He thinks it helped the Huskies out for a couple of innings, until the Rangers started getting hot again.
“We just did a great job,” Matuszak said. “We set the tone in the first inning. It was by the book.”
The Huskies defense stopped two batters behind Cole Ashcraft who struck out one and walked one in the bottom of the first inning.
The Huskies were three up and three down in the second, and Estacada scored a runner in the second inning to tie the game.
Sweet Home went three up and three down again in the third, while Estacada couldn’t get anything going on a single up the third baseline.
The Huskies scored again in the fourth inning. Brett Blachly walked, and Keenon doubled to advance him, but the Rangers trapped him between third and fourth on a misunderstood signal. With two outs and Keenon on base, Justin Tow singled to score him, giving the Huskies a 2-1 lead.
Estacada went three up and three down in the bottom of four.
The Huskies scored again in the fifth on a two-out solo homerun from Rice over the rightfield fence. The Huskies led 3-1.
Dylan briefly relieved Ashcraft on the mound and gave up a hit, a walk and a run, Estacada closing the score to 3-2.
On defense, Rice made a great catch, and Elder, after Ashcraft returned to the mount, executed a running catch in right field to hold off the Rangers’ attack.
In the sixth inning, Kevin Seiber struck out, and Tow was caught out on a foul fly ball. Ashcraft singled down the third baseline, and Elder walked. Colyn Van Eck hit a double to score both and give the Huskies a 5-2 lead.
“It really felt like we were going to win,” Matuszak said. The Huskies made a lot of key plays to get ahead 5-2 by the bottom of the sixth.
The Rangers put together a string of four runs in the sixth inning, taking a 6-5 lead.
“They got a little momentum going, and they did a great job riding that wave of momentum,” Matuszak said, and the Rangers had a great crowd cheering them on, helping keep the momentum. “We were kind of back on our heels for an inning.”
“I guess our pitching just started getting tired,” Weld said. After Ashcraft returned to the game, the Rangers had adjusted, dialed in on him and started hitting the ball.
“Baseball’s a funny game where one thing can change the entire thing,” Rice said. “They got hot, and we didn’t make a couple of plays in the field.”
Weld struck out in the final inning, while Blachly hit a double. Seiber and Keenon were caught out to end the game.
One could make the argument that Estacada is in the toughest league in the state. The top four teams each held a 10-5 league record. Estacada finished in second place in the Tri-Valley Conference.
And the Rangers had to play their best game to beat the Huskies, Matuszak said. “All 14 of our guys gave their best. I just feel proud of the guys, all the hard work they put in, all the adversity we faced the last 12 months.”
“It was a really good season,” Weld said. “Our record doesn’t really show how good we are.”
The Huskies let off the pedal a couple of times and picked up a couple of losses when they shouldn’t have, he said. “It was the best team I’ve played on in my life.”
Austin is happy with the season overall, he said. He was playing with his best friends, seniors Weld and Elder, all through school.
“I couldn’t imagine a senior year somewhere else even though we didn’t go as far as we’d like,” Rice said.
In the last couple of weeks, the team started there freshmen and two sophomores, Matuszak said, and it was able to do that because of the phenomenal senior leadership from Rice, Weld and Elder.
“That was the best senior leadership we’ve ever had,” Matuszak said. “Our seniors gave everything they had this year. They were the epitome of what we want in baseball.”
At bat, Austin went 2-4 with two runs an RBI and a homerun. Blachly went 2-2 with a double and two walks. Tow had one hit and one RBI. Keenon had a single and an RBI and a walk.
Seiber walked once. Ashcraft had a single and a run. Elder had a run and one walk. Weld had a single and a stolen base. Van Eck had a double with two RBIs.
On the mound, Ashcraft gave struck out one batter, giving up three walks, seven hits and five runs, all unearned. Keenon pitched briefly in relief as well as Elder.
Sweet Home finishes the baseball season 9-6 in league and 14-10 overall.
The Huskies will hold their annual awards dessert at 7 p.m. in the cafeteria on Wednesday following the softball team’s state playoff game.
Matuszak said that tryouts for summer ball are after school on Thursday and Friday at the varsity field.
Matuszak wanted to thank everyone in the community who helped contribute to the Huskies’ baseball season.
Estacada will play at Baker on Wednesday.
Sweet Home 100 112 0 – 5 8 5
Estacada 010 014 0 – 6 8 1