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| Jake Stevens is tagged out by Roseburg third baseman Ryan Graf after trying to stretch a double into a triple during the first inning of Monday’s opener. Stevens drove in teammates Dalton Iveans and Bryce Weidman on the play. World Photo by Lou Sennick. |
Roseburg sweeps doubleheader from North Coos
Saturday, July 12, 2008 12:14 PM PDT
NORTH BEND — The best news for the North Coos Waterfront on Friday was that there is no game today.
Roseburg Horizon swept a doubleheader from North Coos — the team’s third straight twin bill at Clyde Allen Field.
Roseburg rallied for a 7-6 win in the opener and led from the start in the nightcap, a 13-3 victory.
“I don’t think we really showed up to play,” said the Waterfront’s Bryce Weidman. “We’re all kind of tired.”
After entering the week perfect at home, North Coos split doubleheaders with Churchill and North Eugene and was swept by Roseburg. That leaves the Waterfront with a 9-9 league record and 15-14 mark overall.
Roseburg completed a season sweep of North Coos and improved to 9-5 in league play.
A scheduled doubleheader today against South Eugene was moved to July 23 because the Axemen were short of players.
That was welcome news to North Coos.
“That will help us a lot,” said Andrew Slack. “When you play six games in three days, you get tired.”
North Coos is at Sheldon on Monday and hosts Roseburg Pepsi on Wednesday.
The team wants to bounce back from Friday’s effort.
“Hopefully we’ll come out and get a sweep against Sheldon,” Weidman said.
North Coos nearly got a split Friday.
Jake Stevens pitched the first game and kept North Coos in front until leaving with arm soarness before the fifth inning.
The Waterfront led 6-4 at the time, but Roseburg scored a run off Ryan Campbell in the fifth inning and then got a two-run home run by Ryan Graf in the sixth to take the lead for good.
Graf proved to be a killer for North Coos all day.
He picked up the save in the opener in relief of Zach Bennett and then went 4-for-4 in the nightcap with a triple, a double, two singles and a sacrifice fly. He scored three runs and drove in four more.
Kyle Jaukkuri also scored three times for Roseburg, which jumped in front early with four runs in the first inning, when the first six batters reached base against Geoff Van Pulliam.
The North Coos starter settled down after that, and gave up just one run over the next four innings.
But Van Pulliam got in trouble in the sixth inning, and coach Brad Horning gave the ball to Slack, a sure sign the team was short on pitching arms after the long week.
Slack said the last time he pitched in a game was in Babe Ruth during the summer after his eighth-grade year.
He enjoyed a chance on the mound — he gave up several hits, but also struck out a batter, to end the fifth. In the sixth, he gave up three more hits before Campbell finished the game.
“I have fun all the time,” Slack said of the games. “It’s just baseball. It’s not life or death.”
Roseburg scored four runs in the sixth and seventh innings to put the game out of reach.
The late runs weren’t necessary, though, because North Coos did little to put up a threat.
Weidman led off the second inning with a double, moved to third on a single by Heston Altenbach and scored on a two-tout single by Slack.
The Waterfront didn’t score again until the fifth, when Slack walked, moved up on a wild pitch and grounder and scored on a ground out by Joe Harris.
Weidman led off the sixth with another double, again moved up on a single by Altenbach, and scored on a single by Stevens.
Those were the highlights, though. Roseburg ended three North Coos innings with double plays and generally kept starting pitcher Kyle Perry out of trouble with defense.
Perry had just one strikeout, but the team committed just two errors.
“Horizon played so much better defense than we did,” Horning said. “They played great in the infield.”
Horning was pleased with the effort of both his starting pitchers. Roseburg did most of its damage against Van Pulliam on two-strike counts in the first inning.
Stevens allowed just four hits in the opener, but the defense committed five errors.
Ideally, a two-day break will bring the players back refreshed next week.
“I think the rest will be good for them,” Horning said.
Weidman had three hits and two runs in the opener. He had four doubles on the day. Stevens had a two-run double in the first inning, when North Coos scored three times. Dalton Iveans, who had two hits and two runs, had an RBI double in the third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Skyler Walton.
Graf and Jared LaVerne had home runs for Roseburg.
First Game
Roseburg Horizon 7,
North Coos 6
Roseburg 210 112 0 — 7 8 2
North Coos 303 000 0 — 6 6 5
Zach Bennett, Ryan Graf (6) and Kyle Jaukkuri; Jake Stevens, Ryan Campbell (5) and Dalton Iveans. 2B—Ros: Jaukkuri; NC: Iveans, Bryce Weidman 2, Stevens. HR—Ros: Graf, Jared La Verne.
Second Game
Roseburg Horizon 13,
North Coos 3
Roseburg 410 004 4 — 13 17 2
North Coos 010 011 0 — 3 7 3
Kyle Perry, Cody Perry (6) and Kyle Jaukkuri; Geoff Van Pulliam, Andrew Slack (6), Ryan Campbell (7) and Dalton Iveans. 2B—Ros: Ryan Graf, Austin Stone; NC: Bryce Weidman 2. 3B—Ros: Graf, Sky Woods. |