CORVALLIS – The Roseburg Doc Stewart’s baseball team opened the Mickey Riley Star Spangled Tournament with a 5-3 loss against the Walla Walla Bears on Thursday.
The Doc’s scored twice in the first inning, but the Bears tied the game in the third and pushed across runs in the fifth and sixth for the comeback victory. Dalton McHugill took the loss for the Doc’s despite allowing just two earned runs.
The Doc’s scored in the first thanks to three consecutive hits from Zack Watkins, Chris Stone, and Will Reddekopp. Reddekopp’s single scored Watkins and Stone crossed the plate after a sacrifice fly by Cam Lierman. Walla Walla starter Wyatt Taylor settled in after the first and held the Doc’s to just four more hits the rest of the way.
The Bears tied the game with two runs in the third inning. Catcher Mitch Lesmeister drove in the first run with a double to left field and later scored on a groundout by Kal Gray.
The game remained tied until the fifth when Walla Walla’s Joe Yenney drove in a run with his second of three hits. The Bears stretched the lead to three runs with a pair of unearned runs in the sixth.
Trailing 5-2, the Doc’s managed to load the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning. A wild pitch score Cody Gray to bring the Doc’s back within a pair of runs, but Walla Walla’s Taylor finished the game with back-to-back strikeouts to earn the complete game victory.
Zack Watkins led the Doc’s at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a run scored. Joe Yenney and Roger Ingram led four Walla Walla hitters with multiple hits. Both batter went 3-for-3 against the Doc’s.
Up next at the Star Spangled Tournament for the Doc Stewart’s is a contest against the Beaverton Beavers at 4 p.m. on Friday. Pregame coverage begins at 3:45 p.m. on 1490 The Score and online at 541radio.com on the Doc Stewart’s Homepage.