EUGENE – The Doc Stewart’s opened Area 4 league play with struggles at the plate as the Eugene Challengers swept a doubleheader against the Doc’s on Thursday.

The Challengers’ pitching staff recorded a combined 24 strike outs against Doc Stewart’s batters in the twin bill and Eugene won game one 7-5 and followed with a 6-2 comeback win in game two.

The Doc’s took early leads in both contests, but in game one it didn’t last long. Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the first, Eugene’s Tanner Cantwell launched a two-run home run over the right field fence to put the Challengers up 2-1. They would never trail the rest of the game.

Andrew Harrington hit a solo home run for the Doc’s in the third inning to briefly tie the game 3-3, but the Challengers retook the lead with a run in the bottom half of the inning. Eugene would add two more in the fourth inning on a single by Matt Land and a run in the fifth and sixth innings.

The Doc’s had multiple chances to score against the Challengers, but left eight runners in scoring position. Cantwell, the starter for Eugene, kept the Challengers out of trouble by notching 14 strikeouts in just six innings of work. Eugene coach Josh Riley made a pitching change in the seventh inning with his team up 7-3 and the Doc’s scored twice off of Matt Haney to cut the deficit in half, but the game-tying run was left on second.

In game two, the Doc’s held a 2-1 lead from the first inning through the fourth, but in the bottom of the fifth the Challengers broke through against Doc’s starter Will Reddekopp. Reddekopp had allowed just three hits and one run prior to the start of the fifth. Back-to-back singles by the Challengers put a runner on third and a sacrifice fly by Tommy Ahlstrom brought in the game-tying run. Reddekopp left the game, but Marcus Lydon hit a double off of reliever Roy Benzel and the go-ahead run came in. That run was credited to Reddekopp’s total and he eventually took the loss.

The Challengers scored three times off of Doc’s pitchers Wryland McKnight and Dalton McHugill in the sixth inning to pull away for the four-run win.

The Doc’s have now lost three straight. The team will try to bounce back with a pair of non-league games against the Fairfield Expos this weekend. The Expos, a traveling team from California, will take on the Doc’s Friday and Saturday at Legion Field. Friday’s contest starts at 7 p.m. Coverage starts at 6:45 p.m. on 1490 The Score and online at 541radio.com.

SCORES BY INN.  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 – R H E
DOC’S                1 0 1 0 1 0 2 – 5 4 2
CHALLENGERS     2 0 1 2 1 1 X – 7 10 2
W: Tanner Cantwell
L: Chris Stone (0-1)

SCORES BY INN.  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 – R H E
DOC’S                2 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 2 7 0
CHALLENGERS     1 0 0 0 2 3 X – 6 8 0
W: Brock Townsend
L: Will Reddekopp (0-1)