NORTH BEND — The North Coos Waterfront started a brutal four-day stretch with a doubleheader split against visiting Churchill on Wednesday at Clyde Allen Field.

The Lancers won the opener 9-4, but North Coos stormed back late in the nightcap for a 10-3 win, capped by the first career grand slam for catcher Dalton Iveans.

North Coos has three more home American Legion doubleheaders in the next three days, starting today with the always dangerous North Eugene. That will be followed by Roseburg Horizon — one of just two teams to sweep the Waterfront in a league twin bill this year — on Friday, and South Eugene, which split with North Coos in Eugene, on Saturday. All three doubleheaders start at 3 p.m.

The opening-game loss was the first at Clyde Allen Field for North Coos this season. The team is 7-1 at home with 10 of its final 12 regular-season games in the friendly confines of the North Bend park.

After getting just four hits in the opener and struggling in the early innings of the nightcap, North Coos finally found life with a two-out rally in the fifth inning.

The Waterfront trailed 2-1 when Jesse McClintock singled in the fifth. Joe Harris walked and Andrew Slack hit an RBI single to right. After Iveans was hit by a pitch, Bryce Weidman lined a two-run single to give North Coos a 4-2 lead.

The next inning, North Coos broke the game open.

Jake Stevens walked to lead off and Heston Altenbach crushed a one-out double nearly to the fence in center field. McClintock hit a sharp single past the drawn-in infield to bring home both Stevens and Altenbach, and Harris followed with an infield single to short. After Slack was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Iveans skied his home run just over the fence in left field.

“I thought it was going to be a lazy fly ball,” Iveans said. “I guess the wind took it.”

The home run capped the big rally and helped North Coos improve to 8-6 in league play and 14-11 overall. The record does not have any playoff implications, since the team is hosting the state tournament and gets an automatic bid, but the club would like to build up momentum for state.

The second game was typical of several of the team’s doubleheaders, Iveans said.

“Either we play good early or we play good late,” he said. “This time we played good late.”

McClintock had three singles and three runs in the nightcap, and also got a big out in the fifth inning when he came on in relief of starting pitcher Elliott Aurdahl.

Churchill had two runners on after a two-RBI single by Sam Kiesse and another single by Spencer Jorgensen. But McClintock struck out Anthony Simpson on three pitches to end the threat.

He had two more strikeouts in the sixth inning after hitting leadoff batter Sean Wilcox with a pitch. Wilcox was picked off first by Iveans following the second strikeout.

“I think Aurdahl pitched well,” Horning said. “Jesse ended that (fifth) inning for us. He threw well the next inning. After the Iveans grand slam, I thought we could save him some pitches.”

McClintock didn’t mind coming on in his relief role Wednesday. He expects to be a starter for one of the other games this week, though he doesn’t yet know which one.

“Horning told me I was going to be in relief,” he said. “I was ready to go.”

While he was excited about the win, McClintock said the team could have played much better earlier in the day.

“We struggled with the bats,” he said. “Our pitching wasn’t bad. We couldn’t hit the ball until the last few innings.”

In addition to McClintock’s three singles, Slack had two hits, two runs and two RBIs in the nightcap. Harris was on base three times — twice by walks — and also scored twice.

Though the team didn’t break through on offense until the fifth inning, North Coos hit the ball hard — generally right at defenders — earlier in the game, and didn’t have a single strikeout.

The late offensive burst was a contrast to the first game, when North Coos had just four hits against Churchill pitchers Drew Larson and Daniel Nelson.

“We made the outs a little too easy for them,” Horning said.

Iveans had two of the hits for North Coos and also had a run and an RBI. Harris walked twice and eventually scored both times. He also had a pair of stolen bases.

The game was tied 4-4 until Churchill got two runs in the fifth inning and three more in the sixth.

Jorgensen had three hits and two runs for Churchill, while Simpson had a double and also scored twice.

First Game

Churchill 9, North Coos 4

Churchill    010    323    0    —    9    11    2

North Coos    003    100    0    —    4    4    4

Drew Larson, Daniel Nelson (7) and Brett Deedon; Ryan Campbell, Kyle Davis (6) and Dalton Iveans. 2B—Chu: Anthony Simpson.

Second Game

North Coos 10, Churchill 3

Churchill    000    020    1    —    3    8    1

North Coos    001    036    x    —    10    8    1

Daniel Nelson, Brett Deedon (6), Sam Kiesse (6) and Cody West; Elliott Aurdahl, Jesse McClintock (6), Kyle Davis (7) and Dalton Iveans. 2B—NC: Heston Altenbach. HR—NC: Iveans.