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Sandblasters win American Legion game
By John Gunther, Sports Editor
Friday, June 13, 2008 | No comments posted.
FLORENCE — It was, by the admission of both head coaches, ugly baseball.
But it also was one of the most important games of the season for both the South Coast’s American Legion baseball teams.
Three Rivers, the Class AAA squad, beat North Coos, its Class A sister team, by a football-type score of 17-13 in a contest that saw many staggering numbers — 11 total pitchers, 13 batters hit by pitches, 15 walks, 374 total pitches thrown, and six half-innings when the team on offense scored at least four runs.
More important than the score, though, the game allowed both coaches to see the bulk of their summer rosters on the field at the same time together for the first time as they gear up for what they hope will be repeats of last summer’s big year, when the squads reached their respective state tournaments.
Each team got all its players into the field, and with young rosters, that was very important.
“It was fun to see them all play,” said veteran North Coos coach Brad Horning.
Horning used six different pitchers and 12 players in all during the game. Several saw action at multiple positions as he tried to sort out possible positions with the league season starting Saturday with a doubleheader at Churchill.
Similarly, Three Rivers coach Alex Morales used five pitchers and got all 17 players at his disposal into the game.
“It was good to have all our guys together finally,” said Morales, who had a limited roster for two games against the Bend Elks earlier in the week because some of his players were still completing the school year. “That was ugly baseball, but we needed a win and we needed to score some runs. And we got everyone in.”
While Morales substituted liberally in the field, he kept most of his starters in the game on offense as the team tried to find its groove at the plate after being shut out twice at Bend.
After a relatively slow start, the Sandblasters produced three straight big innings.
Tyler Mais led off the first inning with a single, stole second and then scored on a throwing error while he was trying to steal third.
That was the only run allowed by North Coos ace Bryce Weidman in his two innings — he struck out three straight batters in the second.
Jesse McClintock came on in the third and also allowed one run, when Cole Skriver had a one-out single and eventually scored on an RBI single by Travis Iverson.
Three Rivers starter Cody Dordan, meanwhile, recorded three straight outs in the first two innings before running into problems in the third. With one out, he walked Joe Harris and then hit Bruce Ohlrich. Heston Altenbach had a two-out walk and Dalton Iveans lined a two-run double to left. After Skyler Walton walked, Kale Forrester came on in relief and Weidman crushed a three-run double to the fence in center field.
Forrester allowed only two more hits and no runs while striking out three batters over the next two innings.
North Coos led 5-2 when Three Rivers had its first big inning. In the bottom of the fifth, Mais walked and Skriver hit into a fielder’s choice, with Mais out at second. Ryan Campbell, the Waterfront’s third pitcher, then hit Jason Graves and gave up a two-run single to Iverson. Ethan Ottemiller followed with a single before Iverson scored on a wild pitch. Ottemiller scored on a perfect sacrifice bunt up the first-base line by Drew Rainwater.
The Sandblasters had a short-lived 6-5 lead, because North Coos responded in the sixth. Harris had a one-out single off Trevor Roberts and Jon Binford was hit by a pitch. Roberts walked Campbell and then hit Altenbach, scoring Harris. Walton walked with two outs and Weidman lined a two-run single up the middle.
Then it was the Sandblasters’ turn again. In the next half inning, Mais had a one-out triple to center and scored on a single by Skriver. Graves walked, prompting a pitching change, with Altenbach taking the mound. Altenbach hit Iverson and walked Ottemiller before Rainwater had a two-run single.
The seventh inning brought six more runs for Three Rivers, as reserves David King and Kevin Warren started the inning with back-to-back singles, Skriver hit into an RBI fielder’s choice and Graves, Iverson and Ottemilller all reached base by either being walked or hit by pitches. Rainwater had a one-run single and Jeremy Graves had an RBI fielder’s choice, giving the Sandblasters a 17-9 lead.
North Coos had one more big inning.
Canaday led off the eighth by hitting a pitch from Joe Crowe over the center field fence and Altenbach, Iveans and Weidman all reached base by being hit by pitches. Jake Stevens had an RBI groundout and Elliott Aurdahl and Harris each had RBI singles.
Despite the high number of runs, both coaches were mostly pleased with their pitching and defense, especially given the nerves that several of the pitchers showed in their first American Legion games.
With big games on the horizon Saturday — the Sandblasters host the Eugene Emeralds and North Coos has its league-opening twin bill — neither coach used his better pitchers for extended innings.
Morales expects all his pitchers to improve, especially with their control.
“One thing we’re going to have to realize is we’re not going to have the offense we had last year,” he said. “We’re going to have to win with pitching and defense.”
The defense was fine — the only error coming by a backup in the ninth inning. Iverson made a sensational grab at third base, robbing Stevens of a hit in the second inning, while Skriver charged in from center to make a sliding grab on a line drive by Aurdahl in the seventh.
“We’ve got good kids,” Morales said. “I’ve got a challenge ahead. We’ve got to work with the kids and make them get better.”
Horning, too, is excited about his club, and noted that some of the challenges Thursday came from having kids in positions they weren’t used to and because several of the players hadn’t been in any games in nearly a month.
The players were thrilled with how the game went.
“It’s always fun to play the triple-A team,” Weidman said.
The game was valuable because it didn’t count in the standings, he said.
“It helps us since it’s our first game and we’re all getting to know each other,” Weidman said.
North Coos features players from Marshfield (McClintock, Campbell and Aurdahl), North Bend (Weidman, Iveans, Walton and Ohlrich), Coquille (Harris, Altenbach and Binford), Myrtle Point (Canaday) and Powers (Stevens). North Bend’s Sean Jany and Andrew Slack, Marshfield’s Geoff Van Pulliam and Kyle Davis of Myrtle Point didn’t play Thursday — Jany is nursing an injury and the other three didn’t make the trip.
The first-year American Legion players were excited.
“It was great,” said Harris, adding that he can’t wait for the rest of the season.
“I’m very excited,” he said. “I think we’ll do pretty good.”
On the other side, Three Rivers veteran Mais had a similar reaction.
“I’m really excited,” he said. “You have your high school season and some of the kids don’t really want to play. You get out here and every kid wants to play.
“You all come together and really play hard because you love the game.”
Ottemiller, in his second year with the Three Rivers club, sees a bright future for the young squad.
“We’re definitely capable of big things,” he said. “We’re going to focus on the small things and work up from there.”
The success of last season provides momentum for this year, even though the team doesn’t have nearly the experience or offensive firepower.
Mais said last year’s run after the Sandblasters struggled their first two seasons has him looking forward to this season.
“That was a blast,” he said of the state tournament. “The possibility of getting back there is motivating for me.”
Like North Coos, Three Rivers has representation from a number of different high schools, including Siuslaw (Mais, Rainwater, Roberts, Chad Wells, Kevin Warren and Kevin Strenke), North Bend (Ottemiller and Forrester), Newport (Iverson, Skriver, Dordan and Crowe), Reedsport (King), Waldport (Willie Grader and Ricky Valentine), Mapleton (Rye Espinoza), and Myrtle Point (Scott Buche).
Notes: Saturday’s game between Three Rivers and the Ems starts at 2:30 p.m. at Siuslaw High School and a big crowd is expected. The Sandblasters then are off until hosting Doc Stewart’s of Roseburg next Wednesday. North Coos plays at Central Point on Monday and Roseburg Pepsi on Wednesday.
Three Rivers 17, North Coos 13
North Coos 005 004 040 — 13 9 4
Three Rivers 101 045 60x — 17 14 1
Bryce Weidman, Jesse McClintock (3), Ryan Campbell (5), Heston Altenbach (5), Jake Stevens (6), Elliott Aurdahl (7) and Dalton Iveans; Cody Dordan, Kale Forrester (3), Trevor Roberts (6), Joe Crowe (8), Chad Wells (9) and Ethan Ottemiller, Kevin Strenke (4), Ottemiller (5), Strenke (6), Ottemiller (7), Strenke (8), Rye Espinoza (9). 2B—NC: Iveans, Weidman. 3B—TR: Tyler Mais. HR—NC: Nic Canaday.
But it also was one of the most important games of the season for both the South Coast’s American Legion baseball teams.
Three Rivers, the Class AAA squad, beat North Coos, its Class A sister team, by a football-type score of 17-13 in a contest that saw many staggering numbers — 11 total pitchers, 13 batters hit by pitches, 15 walks, 374 total pitches thrown, and six half-innings when the team on offense scored at least four runs.
More important than the score, though, the game allowed both coaches to see the bulk of their summer rosters on the field at the same time together for the first time as they gear up for what they hope will be repeats of last summer’s big year, when the squads reached their respective state tournaments.
Each team got all its players into the field, and with young rosters, that was very important.
“It was fun to see them all play,” said veteran North Coos coach Brad Horning.
Horning used six different pitchers and 12 players in all during the game. Several saw action at multiple positions as he tried to sort out possible positions with the league season starting Saturday with a doubleheader at Churchill.
Similarly, Three Rivers coach Alex Morales used five pitchers and got all 17 players at his disposal into the game.
“It was good to have all our guys together finally,” said Morales, who had a limited roster for two games against the Bend Elks earlier in the week because some of his players were still completing the school year. “That was ugly baseball, but we needed a win and we needed to score some runs. And we got everyone in.”
While Morales substituted liberally in the field, he kept most of his starters in the game on offense as the team tried to find its groove at the plate after being shut out twice at Bend.
After a relatively slow start, the Sandblasters produced three straight big innings.
Tyler Mais led off the first inning with a single, stole second and then scored on a throwing error while he was trying to steal third.
That was the only run allowed by North Coos ace Bryce Weidman in his two innings — he struck out three straight batters in the second.
Jesse McClintock came on in the third and also allowed one run, when Cole Skriver had a one-out single and eventually scored on an RBI single by Travis Iverson.
Three Rivers starter Cody Dordan, meanwhile, recorded three straight outs in the first two innings before running into problems in the third. With one out, he walked Joe Harris and then hit Bruce Ohlrich. Heston Altenbach had a two-out walk and Dalton Iveans lined a two-run double to left. After Skyler Walton walked, Kale Forrester came on in relief and Weidman crushed a three-run double to the fence in center field.
Forrester allowed only two more hits and no runs while striking out three batters over the next two innings.
North Coos led 5-2 when Three Rivers had its first big inning. In the bottom of the fifth, Mais walked and Skriver hit into a fielder’s choice, with Mais out at second. Ryan Campbell, the Waterfront’s third pitcher, then hit Jason Graves and gave up a two-run single to Iverson. Ethan Ottemiller followed with a single before Iverson scored on a wild pitch. Ottemiller scored on a perfect sacrifice bunt up the first-base line by Drew Rainwater.
The Sandblasters had a short-lived 6-5 lead, because North Coos responded in the sixth. Harris had a one-out single off Trevor Roberts and Jon Binford was hit by a pitch. Roberts walked Campbell and then hit Altenbach, scoring Harris. Walton walked with two outs and Weidman lined a two-run single up the middle.
Then it was the Sandblasters’ turn again. In the next half inning, Mais had a one-out triple to center and scored on a single by Skriver. Graves walked, prompting a pitching change, with Altenbach taking the mound. Altenbach hit Iverson and walked Ottemiller before Rainwater had a two-run single.
The seventh inning brought six more runs for Three Rivers, as reserves David King and Kevin Warren started the inning with back-to-back singles, Skriver hit into an RBI fielder’s choice and Graves, Iverson and Ottemilller all reached base by either being walked or hit by pitches. Rainwater had a one-run single and Jeremy Graves had an RBI fielder’s choice, giving the Sandblasters a 17-9 lead.
North Coos had one more big inning.
Canaday led off the eighth by hitting a pitch from Joe Crowe over the center field fence and Altenbach, Iveans and Weidman all reached base by being hit by pitches. Jake Stevens had an RBI groundout and Elliott Aurdahl and Harris each had RBI singles.
Despite the high number of runs, both coaches were mostly pleased with their pitching and defense, especially given the nerves that several of the pitchers showed in their first American Legion games.
With big games on the horizon Saturday — the Sandblasters host the Eugene Emeralds and North Coos has its league-opening twin bill — neither coach used his better pitchers for extended innings.
Morales expects all his pitchers to improve, especially with their control.
“One thing we’re going to have to realize is we’re not going to have the offense we had last year,” he said. “We’re going to have to win with pitching and defense.”
The defense was fine — the only error coming by a backup in the ninth inning. Iverson made a sensational grab at third base, robbing Stevens of a hit in the second inning, while Skriver charged in from center to make a sliding grab on a line drive by Aurdahl in the seventh.
“We’ve got good kids,” Morales said. “I’ve got a challenge ahead. We’ve got to work with the kids and make them get better.”
Horning, too, is excited about his club, and noted that some of the challenges Thursday came from having kids in positions they weren’t used to and because several of the players hadn’t been in any games in nearly a month.
The players were thrilled with how the game went.
“It’s always fun to play the triple-A team,” Weidman said.
The game was valuable because it didn’t count in the standings, he said.
“It helps us since it’s our first game and we’re all getting to know each other,” Weidman said.
North Coos features players from Marshfield (McClintock, Campbell and Aurdahl), North Bend (Weidman, Iveans, Walton and Ohlrich), Coquille (Harris, Altenbach and Binford), Myrtle Point (Canaday) and Powers (Stevens). North Bend’s Sean Jany and Andrew Slack, Marshfield’s Geoff Van Pulliam and Kyle Davis of Myrtle Point didn’t play Thursday — Jany is nursing an injury and the other three didn’t make the trip.
The first-year American Legion players were excited.
“It was great,” said Harris, adding that he can’t wait for the rest of the season.
“I’m very excited,” he said. “I think we’ll do pretty good.”
On the other side, Three Rivers veteran Mais had a similar reaction.
“I’m really excited,” he said. “You have your high school season and some of the kids don’t really want to play. You get out here and every kid wants to play.
“You all come together and really play hard because you love the game.”
Ottemiller, in his second year with the Three Rivers club, sees a bright future for the young squad.
“We’re definitely capable of big things,” he said. “We’re going to focus on the small things and work up from there.”
The success of last season provides momentum for this year, even though the team doesn’t have nearly the experience or offensive firepower.
Mais said last year’s run after the Sandblasters struggled their first two seasons has him looking forward to this season.
“That was a blast,” he said of the state tournament. “The possibility of getting back there is motivating for me.”
Like North Coos, Three Rivers has representation from a number of different high schools, including Siuslaw (Mais, Rainwater, Roberts, Chad Wells, Kevin Warren and Kevin Strenke), North Bend (Ottemiller and Forrester), Newport (Iverson, Skriver, Dordan and Crowe), Reedsport (King), Waldport (Willie Grader and Ricky Valentine), Mapleton (Rye Espinoza), and Myrtle Point (Scott Buche).
Notes: Saturday’s game between Three Rivers and the Ems starts at 2:30 p.m. at Siuslaw High School and a big crowd is expected. The Sandblasters then are off until hosting Doc Stewart’s of Roseburg next Wednesday. North Coos plays at Central Point on Monday and Roseburg Pepsi on Wednesday.
Three Rivers 17, North Coos 13
North Coos 005 004 040 — 13 9 4
Three Rivers 101 045 60x — 17 14 1
Bryce Weidman, Jesse McClintock (3), Ryan Campbell (5), Heston Altenbach (5), Jake Stevens (6), Elliott Aurdahl (7) and Dalton Iveans; Cody Dordan, Kale Forrester (3), Trevor Roberts (6), Joe Crowe (8), Chad Wells (9) and Ethan Ottemiller, Kevin Strenke (4), Ottemiller (5), Strenke (6), Ottemiller (7), Strenke (8), Rye Espinoza (9). 2B—NC: Iveans, Weidman. 3B—TR: Tyler Mais. HR—NC: Nic Canaday.
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