ROSEBURG – The Roseburg baseball team avoided losing its first conference series of the season with a pair of narrow, come-from-behind victories in a Southwest Conference doubleheader against Thurston on Saturday.
The Indians managed to outlast the Colts for one-run wins in both contests. Roseburg (8-5; 7-2 SWC) rallied for a 3-2 win in game one and then had to comeback again to win 8-7 in extra innings in game two. The wins snapped a two-game slide for Roseburg and kept the Indians in a tie with North Medford for second place in the conference.
Thurston (4-10; 3-6 SWC) shutout Roseburg for the first three innings of game one and built a 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the top of the third off of Will Reddekopp. The Colts got back-to-back singles to lead off the third and had runners on second and third base with no outs. Reddekopp managed to retire the next two hitters and nearly got out of the frame without surrendering a run, but a throwing error by third basemen Zack Mandera allowed to unearned runs to come home.
The Indians responded in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game. After retiring the first two hitters, Thurston starter David Travelstead gave up a triple to Reddekopp, which was Roseburg’s first hit of the game. Grant Ronk followed with a double that plated Reddekopp to make the score 2-1. Cam Lierman singled to centerfield for Roseburg’s third consecutive hit with two outs and tied the game up.
The game remained tied 2-2 until the sixth when Reddekopp came through with another extra base hit. The senior led off the inning with a double and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Ronk. Lierman scored Reddekopp on a sac-fly to deep centerfield to put Roseburg up 3-2.
Thurston nearly tied the game in the seventh. The Colts had three consecutive singles off of Reddekopp to begin the inning and had the bases loaded with no outs. Roseburg’s defense held, though, and managed to avoid giving up the game tying run. The Indians got the first out on a force out at home, then a fly ball out in left field, and the final out was made on a short fly ball caught by second basemen Zack Watkins in shallow right field. Watkins bobbled the ball for a moment before securing it for the win.
Reddekopp pitched all seven innings, allowing eight hits, but no walks. He struck out six and did not surrender an earned run. His counterpart, Travelstead, only gave up seven hits, but three of those were for extra bases. All three runs scored by Roseburg were earned runs against Travelstead.
In game two, Thurston again jumped out to a large lead. The Colts scored four times against the Indians in the second inning, thanks in large part to a bases-clearing triple by JJ Sargeant. The Colts added a run in the third and fourth innings to lead 6-0 going to the bottom of the fourth.
Roseburg finally broke through against Thurston starter Andrew Ward in the fourth and sent 10 hitters to the plate to score four times and cut the deficit down to two runs. Three Thurston errors in the inning aided the Indians in their comeback.
The Indians tied the game in the fifth after getting the first three batters on base. Back-to-back ground balls with the bases loaded allowed Roseburg to score and knot it up at 6-6.
Thurston retook the lead in the seventh inning on a base knock by Carson Werder. The Colts had the bases loaded with two outs, but reliever Zack Mandera managed to get the final out on an easy ground ball to the mound.
Trailing 7-6, Roseburg needed to score to force extra innings. Grant Ronk reached base with one out after getting hit by a pitch and Terell Jacks took over on the bases as a courtesy runner. Jacks later advanced two bases on a wild pitch that bounced off of catcher David Travelstead’s shin guard and ricocheted almost in the visitor’s dugout. With Jacks on third, Cam Lierman singled in the game-tying run and forced the contest into extra innings.
Thurston threatened in the eighth inning with two men in scoring position, but the Indians got out of the jam. Roseburg got one man on in the eighth, but didn’t get the runner past first. In the ninth, Thurston went down in order, leaving the door open for the heart of Roseburg’s lineup.
Reddekopp and Ronk both popped-out to lead off the inning and it appeared that the game would head to the 10th inning. A two-out single by Lierman revived the Indians’ chances in the ninth. Treven Jacks came to the plate next. With two strikes against him, Jacks singled up the middle to centerfield. Lierman had been stealing on the play, so he had a good jump, but appeared that he would only make it to third base.
As Lierman sprinted for third, Thurston centerfielder Connor Morton mishandled the ball, allowing just enough time for Leirman to continue on to home for the game-winning run.
All three games of the series between Roseburg and Thurston were decided by one run. The teams also played two extra inning games and a total of three additional innings. The losses snapped a three game winning streak for the Colts.
The Indians remain in second place, one-game behind conference leader Sheldon. Roseburg next faces South Medford on Tuesday at Harry & David Field in Medford. Game time is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. and coverage can be found on 1490 The Score and online at 541radio.com.
SCORES BY INN. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 – R H E
THURSTON 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 – 2 8 1
ROSEBURG 0 0 0 2 0 1 X – 3 7 3
W: Will Reddekopp
L: David Travelstead
SCORES BY INN. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 – R H E
THURSTON 0 4 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 – 7 8 1
ROSEBURG 0 0 0 4 2 0 1 0 1 – 8 7 3
W: Zack Mandera
L: Decker Stedman
– Joey Keeran | joey@bciradio.com | @joeykeeran
