HILLSBORO — The offense just never materialized when the Dr. Stewart’s American Legion baseball team needed it the most.
“The outcome of today was about our hitters. They just kind of caved under a little bit of pressure in the batter’s box,” explained Docs coach Jeremiah Robbins.
Kane Kiaunis tossed a complete game, three-hitter for the Post 6 Barbers and knocked the Docs out of the postseason with a 3-0 win on Tuesday, taking the Hillsboro Super Regional in two games to advance to the AAA American Legion state tournament.
“Their guy on the mound kept us off balance all day,” Robbins said. “If you ain’t going to hit, you ain’t going to score runs.”
With a lack of offense, starting pitcher Jace Stoffal was asked to shoulder the load for the Docs. He surrendered three runs (two earned) on five hits over 5 ⅓ innings of work.
“We’ve got to give him run support. He was kind of carrying the whole team on his shoulders and it got heavy,” said Robbins.
Post 6 (31-10) capitalized on a pair of fielding errors in the second inning to take a 1-0 lead. The Barbers added their final two runs on two-out singles in the third and fifth innings by Josh O’Neal and Patrick Muskat, respectively.
The Docs’ best scoring chance came in the third inning when Cade Meisner hit a one-out double down the left field line. It was the first hit of the game for the Docs, but Kiaunis responded by retiring the next two batters.
Kiaunis faced just three batters over the minimum. He struck out six and did not give up a walk.
With the win, the Barbers advance to Kiger Stadium in Klamath Falls where they will face the Eugene Challengers in the first round of the state tournament on Saturday.
It’s the 10th consecutive appearance in the tournament for the Barbers. The state tournament runs July 27-31 with the Oregon state champ advancing to the Northwest Regional in Lewiston, Idaho August 7-11.
The Docs head home to turn in uniforms and enjoy a little bit of summer before a majority of the roster returns to high school for their senior year.
Robbins expects that the Docs will return nearly all of its roster from this season. Cody Johnson, a Roseburg High graduate in 2018, will age out of the program and Robbins believed only one other player may not be eligible to return next season due to age.
“We have some development and growth to do with the talent, but the talent is there,” said Robbins, who admitted he’s excited when thinking of what the future may hold.
“I’m no dummy, I’ve looked at those birth dates,” Robbins said with a grin. “This could be a very, very good run this team can make. But it’s all about their time commitment and their families time commitment.”
“If everybody wants to dive into this thing, I’m more than willing. I’ll be the first one to dive in.”
With new artificial turf coming to Bill Gray Stadium at Legion Field, Robbins envisions having players working throughout the year to get ready for the summer.
“Baseball is such a repetition sport. You can’t just show up in February and think you’re going to be ready for June,” explained Robbins. “We’ve got the facilities. We’ve got the coaches in town that can facilitate their needs and we’re all in.”
Robbins and pitching coach Beau Kerns will get the chance to work with some of the older players at Umpqua Community College next school year. Payton Hope and Jacob Luther have signed to play with Robbins and the RiverHawks in the first season of UCC baseball in decades.
As for the rest of the team, nine players are anticipated to return after their senior year in high school, while there could also be two players back after their junior years.
Overall, the Docs could have an experienced squad in 2020 with nine players on the roster for a third time.
Barbers 011 010 0 — 3 6 0
Dr. Stewart’s 000 000 0 — 0 3 2
Kiaunis and Angeli; Stoffal, Anderson (6) and Six. WP — Kiaunis. LP — Stoffal, 5-3. 2B — Meisner (D).
