Roseburg, Sheldon split a pair of extra-inning SWC baseball games
The Roseburg and Sheldon baseball teams split a pair of extra-inning games in a Southwest Conference doubleheader on Monday at Bill Gray Legion Stadium at Champion Car Wash Field.
Roseburg walked off with a 7-6 win in the opener thanks to a sacrifice fly by Brevin Harrison in the home half of the eighth inning. Sheldon responded with a 1-0 victory in eight innings in the nightcap to win the season series with the Indians.
The result of the twin bill left Roseburg (15-7, 9-6 SWC) in a tie for third place in the conference standings with three SWC games left to play. The two teams are one game behind second place Willamette in the standings and two games behind league-leader Grants Pass.
Roseburg will visit Eugene to play against Willamette at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Harrison was 2-for-4 in Game 1 with two RBIs. The senior drove in Paxton Burke in the first inning to start the scoring for Roseburg. His sacrifice fly to shallow left field in the eighth was enough to get Burke across home for the final score.
In between, the Indians and Irish had a hard time separating themselves. Sheldon (9-15, 5-11) took the lead in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings, but each time Roseburg managed to even up the score.
Heath King went 3-for-4 in the opener with two RBIs that tied the game. The senior’s triple in the fourth evened the score at 2-all and his two-out single in the fifth tied the score at 5.
Quincy Peterson led the Irish with three hits, including a pair of doubles. Cam Thomas had two RBIs for Sheldon. Ty Burnham, Evan Colling and Jaxon Detzler also drove in runs.
Rylee Cheney got the win for Roseburg in his first appearance on the mound. The sophomore pitched a clean eighth inning, allowing no hits and walking one.
Harrison got the start in the nightcap and went toe-to-toe with freshman Brady Barry in a classic pitcher’s duel. Both hurlers managed to keep the game scoreless through the first seven innings.
Sheldon finally broke through against Harrison in the eighth inning. Thomas hit a leadoff triple and scored the game’s only run on what was nearly an inning-ending double play.
Peterson hit a grounder towards the hole at shortstop. Brooks Avery fielded and quickly got the ball to Kaden Austin at second, but the relay throw to first was late, allowing Thomas to score the go-ahead run.
Thomas took over for Barry on the mound and worked a scoreless eighth inning to preserve the victory.
Barry got the win, allowing just five hits with two walks and 12 strikeouts over seven innings. Thomas got the save.
Harrison took the loss despite scattering just four hits over eight innings with one walk and four strikeouts.
Roseburg squandered multiple scoring chances, leaving six runners on base in scoring position.
First Game
Sheldon;000;230;10;—;6;9;2
Roseburg;100;130;11;—;7;8;2
Miller, Wright (5), Edwards (6) and Coleman; Johnson, Hartsell (7), Cheney (8) and Burke. W — Cheney (1-0). L — Edwards. 2B — Peterson 2 (S), Carpenter (R). 3B — King (R).
Second Game
Sheldon;000;000;01;—;1;4;1
Roseburg;000;000;00;—;0;5;0
Barry, Thomas (8) and Coleman; Harrison and Burke. W — Barry. L — Harrison (3-4). Sv — Thomas. 2B — Colling (S), Avery (R). 3B — Thomas (S).
