EUGENE — On a blustery day at South Eugene High School, the Roseburg bats were spraying the ball around the yard, while Evan Corbin was shutting down the Axe lineup.
Corbin struck out a season-high 12 batters and Brooks Avery highlighted an eight-hit performance for the Indians with a pair of home runs in a 10-3 win to begin Southwest Conference play on Tuesday.
It was the second complete-game victory for Corbin, who allowed just three hits and walked none. The senior has now struck out 22 batters in just 14 innings of work.
“I just want to go out there and throw strikes,” said Corbin, a first-team All-Southwest Conference pitcher last season. “I know my defense will have my back. So as long as I throw strikes and be consistent, good things will end up happening.”
The one South Eugene player to have success againt Corbin was leadoff hitter Leo Reeves.
The 6-foot-3 senior had all three hits for South Eugene (2-2, 1-2 SWC). Reeves hit a solo home run in the first inning to give the Axe a 1-0 lead and added a two-run blast in the third.
“He’s a great guy and great ballplayer,” Corbin said. He added that he was excited to face Reeves in each at bat. “Whether it goes his way or my way, it’s just a good battle.”
Avery proved to be equally as dangerous at the plate for Roseburg (3-1, 1-0). The junior notched his first two hits at the varsity level and they just happened to be his first-ever home runs.
Avery’s two-run homer to left field in the second inning gave Roseburg a 2-1 advantage and he helped pad the lead with a solo shot in the sixth.
“It felt good,” Avery said of his two bombs that easily cleared the fence in left. “I barreled them up. The weight room is finally paying off.”
Roseburg scored in every inning except the first and seventh and reached double-digit runs for the first time this season.
“I thought we got good support from our offense today. Some quality at-bats and, obviously, you get a couple of big balls from Brooks Avery, it was nice to see,” Roseburg coach Troy Thompson said. “But we had several other guys that had good at bats and put the ball in play and forced them to make some mistakes and allowed us to continue innings and continue to add on runs.”
The Indians continue conference play on Saturday with a doubleheader at Grants Pass, starting at noon.
Roseburg 022 411 0 — 10 8 2
S. Eugene 102 000 0 — 3 3 4
Corbin and Burke; Moses, Bush (4), Santiago (5) and Reeves. W — Corbin (2-0). L — Moses. 2B — Corbin (R). HR — Reeves 2 (SE), Avery 2 (R).
