 |
Eng captures dual title at regionals
Bruins drop two of three, tied for
first
GFU notches first NWC triumph
Three Bruins hit provisional marks
Tigers
ride win streak
into Pac-9 play |
The NHS baseball team racks up pair of wins
before it faces conference play on Friday |
By B. Scott Anderson, Newberg
Graphic sports editor
E-mail Scott at banderson@eaglenewspapers.com
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The Newberg High School baseball team used a pair of victories
thanks to 23 runs in two games to head into Pac-9 Conference action Friday.
NHS coach Frank Baumholtz said he feels good about how the Tigers (4-4
overall) have progressed so far this season.
“We’re really gearing up and heading for the league season on a
good foot,” he said.
On Saturday the Tigers (4-4 overall) posted a 10-4 road win at Century.
Justin Burger led the Newberg offensive attack with a 2-for-4 performance to go along with
four RBI. Sophomore Darrell Huffman went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI and senior Marc
Hillman went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Junior Austin Casey went 2-for-2 from the plate for the
Tigers. Sophomore Chance Howard picked up the pitching victory by going six innings before
Hillman came in for relief in the seventh.
“(Howard) threw six innings and had a great outing,” Baumholtz
said. “That’s been the big thing for us: when we’re playing well, we pitch
and play defense and have good, timely hitting.”
On Monday, Newberg hosted and demolished Corvallis, 13-5. Newberg cycled
through its entire offensive lineup on the way to a four-run first inning. Junior Jordan
Burger, who was 2-for-4 with two RBI, hit a two-RBI single to left field to get the Tigers
on the board before senior Ian Roholt drilled the first pitch up the middle for an RBI of
his own. Later, Jordan Burger scored on a Corvallis throwing error.
Newberg added two more runs in the third after junior Todd Siler led the
inning off with a triple to center field. After Roholt collected his second RBI of the
game with a double to left field, junior Matt Dixon, who went 2-for-2 with an RBI, knocked
in another NHS run with an RBI double to right field.
After the Tigers scored an unearned run in the fourth inning, Corvallis
finally broke through in the fifth inning. The Spartans took advantage of two hit batters,
two hits and two walks issued by senior pitcher Kyle Dahl. All four Corvallis runs were
scored with two outs.
The Tigers didn’t let the Spartans stay close for long, though, as they
bounced back with a four-run inning in the bottom of the fifth. After a leadoff single by
Roholt, who went 3-for-4 with two RBI, Dixon out-ran a bunt to first base. Roholt scored
on a Corvallis error before Hillman, who singled to get on, scored thanks to another
Corvallis error. Thanks to a pair of Corvallis wild pitches, both Huffman and Justin
Burger scored.
Newberg added two more runs in the sixth when it took advantage of another
Corvallis passed ball before Hillman hit a sacrifice RBI.
“We put the ball in play and I guess I always tend to focus on the
defensive side because that’s the part that’s going to win you a lot of ball
games,” Baumholtz said. “When we’re playing a team like this that’s
struggling a little bit, it’s almost like you get a false sense of security because
you’ve scored so many runs, but half of the runs were unearned. They threw the ball
around a little bit and you have to capitalize on the other team’s mistakes. Against
a group like this, we’re going to put the pressure on them and make them make
plays.”
Baumholtz said the Tigers still need to work on the little things.
“When we get into the big games, the little things are what’s going
to matter and we had a few baserunning mistakes that I’d like to correct,” he
said. “We had some hesitation and I told the guys that if you hesitate, you
don’t go and we had a couple of guys who hesitated and they got thrown out.”
Dahl picked up the win for the Tigers, striking out seven, giving up four
hits, walking two batters and hitting three. Senior Dan Bolthouse came in for Dahl in the
bottom of the seventh and got a groundout and two strikeouts.
“I was really pleased with the way (Dahl) threw,” Baumholtz said.
“Our pitching has been above and beyond what I expected and (Bolthouse) came in and
threw well in the seventh and that’s kind of where we’re going to be at.
We’re going to be a pitch-by-committee kind of deal. We’ve got guys who have to
make some adjustments offensively, but for the most part we’re putting the ball in
play.”
Even though Corvallis tallied four runs in the fourth inning, two unearned,
it didn’t hurt Newberg.
“Against a team like this, it doesn’t hurt but that’s part of
the little things,” Baumholtz said. “We can’t give outs away. We can’t
drop balls, as well. We have to take advantage of their mistakes and not give them
back.”
Baumholtz pointed out that Newberg has to be more careful when its pitching
staff issues walks and hits batters.
“Those are the things we can’t do,” he said. “Against the
good teams, they’re going to make us pay for the outs we give them.”
With Newberg’s first Pac-9 Conference game of the season looming Friday
in a 4 p.m. road contest against Tigard, Baumholtz said he is confident about his team.
“I feel really good,” he said. “Our pitching is lined up
perfectly. We had (Dahl) throw today and he’ll come back again and throw on
Friday.” |
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From March 31,
2004, Newberg Graphic
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