MEDFORD – The Roseburg baseball team held two leads in a closely contest Southwest Conference game on Tuesday, but couldn’t hold off the South Medford Panthers, who rallied for a 5-4 win in eight innings.
The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Will Reddekopp drove in Zack Watkins on a one-out single to centerfield. Watkins had reached base on a leadoff double to get the Indians off to a strong start. Roseburg went on to load the bases with two outs, but couldn’t stretch their advantage.
Roseburg (8-6; 7-3 SWC) starter Zack Mandera kept the Panthers off the scoreboard over the first three innings. The freshman allowed only one hit during that time. South Medford (4-11; 3-7 SWC) finally got to Mandera with a pair of runs in the third. Mandera was able to get the first two outs, but a single by South’s Matt Devries with the bases loaded gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead.
The Indians battled back to tie the game in the fifth. Luke Lucido led off the inning by getting hit by a pitch from South Medford starter Ethan Whitney. Lucido later scored on a single by Zack Watkins to square the game up. The hit was Watkins’ third of the game.
Roseburg added another two runs in the sixth inning to take a 4-2 lead. The edge wasn’t enough as South Medford again battled back from the narrow deficit. In the bottom of the sixth, South’s Brandon Letendre plated a runner from third on what should have been a groundout. Lucido bobbled the ball at shortstop and Letendre got on base with the score 4-3.
Latendre later scored the game-tying run on a two-out single by Cole Carder and the game went to the seventh tied at 4-4.
Neither team managed to score in the seventh inning and the contest went to extras. For the Indians it was their second consecutive extra inning game. Roseburg went down in order in the eighth and the Indians were one out away from forcing a ninth inning when South Medford scored the winning run.
Clint Campbell reached base on a one-out single up the middle. He stayed at first after a popout was caught on the infield for the second out of the inning. Then, with two outs, Jaalen Owens got his first hit of the game on a drive to right-centerfield. Roseburg centerfielder Brendan Ibarra attempted to catch the ball with a head-first dive, but came up short and the ball rolled all the way to the fence. Campbell had plenty of time to score from first to secure the Panther’s victory.
Will Reddekopp took the loss in relief. The senior came in for Mandera in the sixth inning. South’s Ethan Whitney pitched a complete game to earn the win.
The win snaps a five-game losing streak for South Medford and ends a short two-game winning streak for Roseburg. The two sides will face off on Saturday in a doubleheader at Legion Field. Game one begins at 12 p.m. The game broadcast starts at 11:45 a.m. on 1490 The Score and online at 541radio.com.
NOTE: Three regular starters for Roseburg either did not play or had limited roles. Senior Chance Beecher sat out the game after getting hit in the face with a foul ball on Saturday. Senior Chris Stone made an appearance as a pinch-runner in the seventh inning, but otherwise did not play as he recovers from an arm injury. Senior Grant Ronk was used as a designated hitter and did not play defensively at catcher, where he has started every game in conference.
SCORES BY INN. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 – R H E
ROSEBURG 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 – 4 7 4
SOUTH MEDFORD 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 1 – 5 9 3
W: Ethan Whitney
L: Will Reddekopp
– Joey Keeran | joey@bciradio.com | @joeykeeran
