Roseburg baseball knocks off No. 9 Sprague, 7-3

The Roseburg Indians jumped on the Sprague Olympians early en route to a 7-3 win in a nonleague baseball contest Wednesday at Bill Gray Legion Stadium at Champion Car Wash Field.

Sprague’s starting pitcher, Avery Lohrman, issued five walks in the first inning, including two with the bases loaded, to help the Indians pull ahead 3-0.

Roseburg (7-3) took advantage of nine walks through the first three innings to build a 7-0 lead against the Olympians. That was more than enough for Rylee Cheney and Danner Wertz, who combined to pitch the Indians to their third consecutive win.

“Always important to score early and often and fortunately today we were able to do that,” Roseburg coach Troy Thompson said.

Cheney drove in a run with a single in the first inning for Roseburg. Jake Johnson had a RBI triple in the second to make it 4-0.

The Indians scored three more in the third on a sacrifice fly from Kaden Austin and a two-run single by Cal Robbins.

Cheney pitched three innings and allowed one run on three hits with two strikeouts and a walk. Wertz closed out the final four innings to pick up his third win of the season, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits, two walks and three strikeouts.

Sprague, ranked No. 9 in the OSAA Class 6A coaches’ poll, got on the board with a two-out single in the fourth by Grant Moyer. The Olympians added a run in the sixth and scored on a passed ball in the seventh, but never truly mustered up a rally.

“We competed well against a very aggressive and offensive ball club there,” Thompson said. “To get out of a couple of innings when they had runners in scoring position and we were able to pitch our way out or play defense, good job by our guys doing that.”

Sprague (5-4) outhit Roseburg 8-4, led by Jaxson Redel, who was 2-for-3 with an RBI.

Paxton Burke walked three times for Roseburg and Cal Robbins was 1-for-3 with two RBIs.

The Indians will have the rest of the week off and resume Southwest Conference play on Tuesday at home against Sheldon.

Sprague;000;101;1;—;3;8;1

Roseburg;313;000;0;—;7;4;2

Lorhman, Redel (1) and Moyer; Cheney, Wertz (4) and C. Robbins. W — Wertz (3-0). L — Lohrman. 3B — Dalton (S), J. Johnson (R).