EUGENE – The Roseburg baseball team got out to a hot start against South Eugene Saturday, winning game one 11-1 in five innings, but the Indians went cold at the plate and lost game two 3-1 for a split decision in a Southwest Conference doubleheader.
Roseburg picked up a mercy-rule win in game one after the team scored 11 runs for a second consecutive game. The Indians pulled ahead 7-0 in the third inning and added two runs in both the fourth and the fifth innings. All nine Roseburg hitters recorded a hit and Chris Stone and Will Reddekopp each hit home runs.
Stone hit a solo home run with one out in the third to put up Roseburg’s first run of the game. That was almost all the Indians would get, but a two-out rally led Roseburg to put up six more runs before the final out was made. An error by South Eugene third basemen Walter Wonham helped extend the inning as well.
Reddekopp hit his round-tripper in the fifth inning to put Roseburg up 11-1. The senior blasted a pitch over the centerfield fence for a two-run homer that allowed the Indians to end the game after just five innings.
Reddekopp also earned the win, pitching all five innings. He gave up just six hits, three walks, and struck out two.
In game two the Indians mustered just five hits off of the Axemen and left seven runners on base, four of which were left in scoring position. South Eugene was only marginally better, collecting eight hits, but the Axemen managed to string together a few hits to push across three runs.
South Eugene took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a one-out single by Jonah Sherman. Roseburg tied the game in the second on a sacrifice fly by Justin Grubbs. The game remained tied 1-1 until the fourth inning when the Axemen took the lead for good.
Roseburg starter Zack Mandera gave up a leadoff single to Gavin Bronaugh in the fourth and Bronaugh later scored on a wild pitch. Mandera was able to limit the damage that inning by striking out consecutive hitters with runners at second and third to keep the Indians within one.
Mandera was touched up again in the fifth inning. The freshman surrendered a one-out double to Sherman and junior Isaiah Molaski followed with a single that brought Sherman home. The two-run advantage was more than enough for Molaski, who took the mound in the sixth inning and earned a save by striking out five of the seven batters he faced.
The loss snapped Roseburg’s five-game winning streak. The Indians remain in first place in the Southwest Conference, as Sheldon also split a conference doubleheader on Saturday.
Up next the Indians visit the Thurston Colts on Tuesday. The contest begins at 4:30 p.m. and pregame coverage gets underway at 4:15 p.m. on 1490 The Score and online at 541radio.com.
SCORES BY INN. 1 2 3 4 5 R H E
ROSEBURG 0 0 7 2 2 11 10 0
S. EUGENE 0 0 0 1 0 7 6 2
W: Will Reddekopp
L: Jonah Sherman
SCORES BY INN. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
ROSEBURG 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 4
S. EUGENE 1 0 0 1 1 0 X 7 6 2
W: Michael Moore
L: Zack Mandera
S: Isaiah Molaski
– Joey Keeran | joey@bciradio.com | @joeykeeran
