GRANTS PASS –  It was a night of firsts for the Roseburg Doc Stewart’s American Legion baseball team against the Grants Pass Nuggets on Sunday.

The Doc’s won two league games against the Nuggets, 11-1 and 5-3, for their first three-game winning streak of the year. It was also the team’s first sweep of an opponent this season, their first back-to-back wins, they scored their most runs in one game, and had their biggest win of the year. Head coach Scott Shaver also reached a milestone by winning his 200th game as the coach of the Doc Stewart’s.

Game one of the twin bill was the Doc’s largest margin of victory this year. The 10-run win was completed in only five innings due to the mercy rule. Doc’s pitcher Chris Stone earned his first win of the year by allowing just one run in five innings.

The Doc’s (9-19-1; 4-8 Area 4) jumped out to a big lead early on, highlighted by Cam Lierman’s grand slam home run in the first inning. With one out and the bases loaded, Lierman hit his first homer of the season over the left field fence to put the Doc’s up 5-0. A couple of errors, a walk, and a wild pitch helped the Doc’s tack on two more runs in the first for a 6-0 lead off of Grants Pass starter Tyler Sakraida.

Roseburg was held scoreless in the second, but added runs in the third, fourth, and fifth innings. Lierman led the way offensively with five RBI, but the Doc’s had a whole team effort. A total of six players had base hits and four finished with multiple hits in the opener. Zack Watkins led the way by starting the game three straight hits and finishing 3-for-4.

With the offensive support, Stone looked comfortable on the mound, allowing just two hits and one run, while walking two and striking out one. Stone improved to 1-2 on the mound this season.

Game two was a closer affair, but the Doc’s ultimately were too much for the Nuggets in a 5-3 game.

The Doc’s took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a one-out single by Cody Gray, but every time the Doc’s scored Grants Pass managed to find a way to answer. The Nuggets tied the game in the bottom of the second on a two-out single by Jay Segura.

The Doc’s scored again in the fifth, but Grants Pass again tied the game at 2-2 with a run in the home half of the same inning.

Roseburg took the lead for good with a run in the sixth inning. Lierman drove in his sixth run of the series against Grants Pass with a groundout to shortstop to put the Doc’s up 3-2. They would add two more runs on a single by Watkins in the seventh and those runs proved to be big.

Grants Pass center fielder Dylan Morgan launched a solo home run in the seventh inning to make the score 5-3, but Doc’s starter Roy Benzel managed to get the final two outs for a complete game victory. Benzel allowed 10 hits, but minimized the damage. He walked one and struck out three to improve to 2-1 on the year.

The Doc’s are now just five games out of first place in the Area 4 league standings Eugene split a doubleheader against Klamath Falls on Sunday. The Doc’s are also just one game out of a playoff spot with eight league games left to play.

Up next for the Doc Stewart’s is a league doubleheader at home against the Klamath Falls Falcons on Monday night. Game one begins at 6 p.m. and broadcast coverage starts at 5:45 p.m. on 1490 The Score and online at 541radio.com on the Doc Stewart’s Homepage.

NOTE: Doc Stewart’s head coach Scott Shaver has now amassed a career coaching record of 201-138-1 in nine years coaching the Doc’s. He becomes the fifth coach of the Legion baseball program to reach 200 wins. Other coaches to reach 200 or more wins in a career are Bill Taylor (218), Dan Withers (372), John Livingston (211), John Thomas (211), and Bill Haper (417). Shaver is the 12th coach in the Doc Stewart’s 62-year history.