Roseburg baseball splits doubleheader with Willamette, but takes season series
It’s not how you start, but how you finish. That was the case for the Roseburg High School baseball team on Saturday.
The Indians struggled to find success against Willamette’s Mason Christian in a 3-1 loss to begin a Southwest Conference doubleheader, but Roseburg bounced back to win 9-6 in the nightcap at Bill Gray Legion Stadium at Champion Car Wash Field.
Roseburg took the season series against Willamette with the win in Game 2.
Chrsitian quieted the Roseburg bats in the opener. The sophomore allowed just one hit to the Tribe and pitched six shutout innings after giving up a run in the first. He finished with five strikeouts and two walks. The one run against Christian was unearned.
“Good performance by him today,” Roseburg coach Troy Thompson said of Christian. “The few opportunities we had with runners on base, they shut that down quickly, other than the one run we scored.”
Both teams notched a run in the first. Collin Robbins briefly gave Willamette (8-9, 5-5 SWC) a 1-0 lead with a two-out double. Roseburg (11-5, 7-3) tied the game on a two-out single by Jake Johnson.
The Indians were unable to generate much after that. Roseburg had a baserunner reach in the fourth and fifth on errors and in the sixth and seventh on walks, but they were all left stranded on base.
The Wolverines were able to rack up eight hits against Roseburg starter Rylee Cheney, but runs were tough to come by. Brodie Butler drove in Andrew Evans in the third inning after Evans led off with a double. Landon Cook plated a run in the sixth to add some cushion for Willamette.
Cheney took the loss, but did well to pitch around trouble. He allowed two earned runs with one walk, two hit batters and four strikeouts.
“(Cheney) did a good job and limited their offensive opportunities as well and gave us a chance to get our offense going at any time and unfortunately in Game 1 we certainly didn’t respond,” Thompson said.
The nightcap featured more offense and major swings of momentum.
Roseburg grabbed a 3-0 lead in the first inning after recording five straight hits to begin the game. Dane St. Clair got the scoring started with a triple. Cal Robbins smacked an RBI single to right field and Fletcher Coleman drew a bases-loaded walk.
The Wolverines responded with a six-run second inning thanks to erratic pitching from RHS starter Danner Wertz. The freshman surprisingly struggled to throw strikes and issued five walks in the frame. Willamette sent 11 hitters to the plate and snatched the lead on a three-run double by Cook.
Thompson said it was an inning that “we haven’t seen” from Wertz this season.
Wertz settled back in and threw three consecutive shutout innings before getting relieved in the sixth. He allowed six runs on five hits with six walks and four strikeouts to pick up his fifth win of the season.
The offense gave Wertz the lead again with six runs in the third. The first five hitters reached against Jackson Doughty. Wertz drove in a run with a double and Coleman and Kaden Austin both picked up an RBI, with Austin’s sharp single to left field tying the game at 6-6.
Willamette went to the bullpen, but the runs kept coming for the Indians. A throwing error by the catcher allowed the go-ahead run to score and Luke Robbins stretched the lead to 9-6 with a two-out single up the middle.
Luke Robbins was 2-for-3 in the nightcap and Paxton Burke was 3-for-5 in the leadoff spot.
St. Clair and Johnson combined to finish out the game for Wertz. Johnson threw a perfect seventh inning to clinch the win and earn his first save of the season.
“Great job by our arms after the second inning to keep Willamette in that spot,” Thompson said.
Roseburg remains in a virtual tie with North Medford for first place in the Southwest Conference. The Indians have played two more league games than the Black Tornado, who had their doubleheader against South Medford rained out on Saturday. The Medford rivalry series will be made-up on Monday.
Roseburg visits South Medford for a single game at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Harry and David Field in Medford.
First Game
Willamette 101 001 0 — 3 9 2
Roseburg 100 000 0 — 1 1 2
Christian and Evans; Cheney, St. Clair (7) and C. Robbins. W — Christian. L — Cheney (1-2). 2B — Evans (W).
Second Game
Willamette 060 000 0 — 6 6 1
Rosburg 306 000 x; — 9 12 1
Doughty, B. Rather (3), Wright (5) and Evans; Wertz, St. Clair (6), J. Johnson (7) and Bowers. W — Wertz (5-0). L — Doughty. SV — J. Johnson (1). 2B — Cook (W), Wertz (R). 3B — St. Clair (R).
