Docs confident ahead of AAA American Legion state tournament

The regular season ended extremely late for the Roseburg Dr. Stewart’s American Legion baseball team in Klamath Falls on Monday, but a doubleheader sweep of the Falcons secured the Docs an extra day of rest and preparation for the upcoming AAA American Legion Oregon state tournament.

Roseburg (23-16-1, 14-6 Area 4) finished second in the Area 4 league standings, three games behind repeat league champion Eugene (40-8, 17-3). The Challengers received an automatic berth as the host of the state tournament, meaning the Docs earned the lone automatic state tournament berth from Area 4 as the next best team behind Eugene. Dr. Stewart’s will begin the state tournament at 10 a.m. Saturday at Swede Johnson Stadium.

“Oh man, it’s huge for us,” Roseburg coach Eric Savage said about skipping the play-in round. “That’s what we set out to do and that’s what we achieved. It’s a big accomplishment for this group. It’s a group that continues to accomplish things as we set goals throughout the season. They’re motivated to be successful and I think that’s a huge motivator right there to not have to play in that play-in game.”

This is the first time Roseburg has earned an automatic berth to the state tournament in its current format and their success has the team feeling confident heading to the postseason.

“I think we’ve proven to ourselves that we can beat, really, any team, but at the same time we can lose to any team. We just need to come together and when we do come together we can beat anyone,” Docs starting shortstop Brooks Avery said.

The season has been a tale of two halves for Roseburg. The Docs were 8-12-1 during the month of June, but found a spark in July and went 15-4 to close out the regular season.

Avery has been a driving force behind the resurgence for the Stewies. The Roseburg High School graduate has hit .371 this summer with an 11-game hit streak in July. He leads the team in RBIs, runs scored, stolen bases and is tied for the team lead in doubles and triples.

Outfielder Dane St. Clair carries the team’s best batting average (.378) into the postseason, but he’s been out of commission for the past week after suffering a knee injury during practice. He’s been showing steady improvement as the state tournament approaches and Savage is hopeful the down time this week will allow St. Clair the chance to see the field.

“It’s nice to have those additional days to make sure we’re looking out for those kids. Making sure they’re taking care of some things that will maybe give them a chance to play, whether it’s the beginning of the state tournament or hopefully the last day,” Savage said.

Roseburg has reached the fourth day of the five-day, double-elimination state tournament in each of the past three seasons. Going deep in the playoffs is never easy and requires a bit of luck, but more importantly it requires a stable of pitchers that can carry a team through.

Savage is thankful that the team has time this week to get his rotation set for the tournament. “It lines our arms up really well for a multi-day tournament with pitch counts,” Savage said.

The Docs have utilized 14 pitchers this summer, but have found a solid core of 4-5 guys they’ve relied on regularly to start. Jake Johnson has led the way with a 6-1 record and 0.91 earned run average over a team-high 38 2/3 innings pitched.

There are five pitchers that have thrown 30 or more innings this summer and Drew Camp is close with 29 1/3 innings. Of those pitchers, Brevin Harrison has the highest ERA at 3.16. Johnson, Camp, Colton Siewell, Ty Hellenthal and Tristan Ledbetter all have sub-3.00 ERAs.

“I think we have a good chance. We’re hot right now,” said Paxton Burke, who was a mid-season call-up from the Dr. Randol’s Crowns roster.

No matter how good the team is feeling, Savage says this week is allowing the coaches a chance to put the players to the test.

“(We) keep applying pressure on them and keep putting them in game-like situations in practice,” Savage explained. “There’s a lot of things we need to continue to work on to get better, like bunting and base running. The little things.”

Roseburg, Eugene, the Mid-Valley (Albany) Southpaws and Portland Barbers make up the four automatic qualifiers for the double-elimination state tournament. Eight teams will look to join them by winning a play-in game on Friday in Eugene.

The Hillsboro Wet Sox and Post 58 (Stayton) Canyon Crushers will square off Friday at 10 a.m., with the winner advancing to play the Docs on Saturday at 10 a.m.

In the other play-in games on Friday, Medford faces the Portland Hillsdale Merchants at 1 p.m., Corvallis takes on Redmond at 4 p.m. and the Dallas Post 20 Dirtbags play against the Grants Pass Nuggets at 7 p.m.

The state tournament runs through Wednesday, July 31. The Oregon state champion advances to the Northwest Regional in Billings, Mont. starting Aug. 7.