American Legion Baseball: Docs finish regular season with split against Hillsdale
Roseburg Dr. Stewart’s wrapped up the American Legion baseball regular season with a nonleague doubleheader split at home against the Hillsdale Merchants on Sunday at Bill Gray Stadium at Champion Car Wash Field.
The Docs took the opener 6-3 and the Merchants snagged a 3-1 victory in the nightcap. Both teams finished out the regular season winning four of five games.
The twin bill was a preview of what’s to come in the first round of the American Legion Baseball AAA Oregon State Tournament this weekend in Portland. Roseburg will face Hillsdale at 10 a.m. Saturday to begin the double-elimination tournament after both teams finished second in their respective leagues.
Roseburg’s Rylee Cheney earned his first win of the season in Game 1. The rising senior at Roseburg High School allowed just five hits and three runs over 6 1/3 innings. He finished with three strikeouts as he helped the Docs stretch their winning streak to four games.
The Docs took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a double steal. Paxton Burke was at third after reaching base on a leadoff walk and Logan Anderson was at first after a single. Anderson stole second and as the Merchants threw down Burke took off from third and beat a return throw back to home plate.
Hillsdale (25-7) briefly took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third inning. A throwing error allowed Preston Parker to reach base and he scored on a triple by Jackson Poole, who later scored on a wild pitch to give the Merchants the lead.
Roseburg (21-18) quickly responded with five runs in the home half of the third to regain the lead for good. The Docs only had two hits, but three errors, a walk and two wild pitches help Roseburg push runs across home.
Cal Robbins and Jake Johnson both had RBIs for the Docs in the third inning.
The Hillsdale Merchants, out of the Portland-metro area, took the nightcap behind a complete-game performance by left-hander Reece Fisher.
The Docs managed just two hits against Fisher, who kept Roseburg’s hitters off-balance and induced a lot of weak fly balls for outs. Hillsdale made 13 of 21 putouts on fly balls.
The Merchants scored two runs in the first and another in the second off of Docs’ starter Danner Wertz. Hillsdale was aggressive on the bases early, swiping four bags in the first inning to help score runs. An error in the second inning led to a run-scoring on a wild pitch.
Logan Anderson pitched the final four innings and didn’t allow a run, but the Docs offense only mustered a pair of singles by Robbins. Burke produced the only run for Roseburg after drawing a walk in the sixth and stealing second, third and home.
The Docs now have five days to rest and get ready for the start of the state tournament beginning Saturday. The Portland Barbers are the tournament host team at Joe Etzel Field on the campus of the University of Portland.
Roseburg finished second in the Area 4 standings and earned an automatic berth in the double-elimination tournament. The Docs face Hillsdale, which got the No. 1 seed out of Area 2 after finishing second behind the Portland Barbers. As the tournament host, the Barbers did not factor into the seeding for Area 2.
First Game
Hillsdale;002;001;0;—;3;5;3
Roseburg;105;000;X;—;6;4;1
Keuhlthau and Parker; Cheney, Hellenthal (7) and Robbins. W — Cheney (1-4). L — Keuhlthau. SV — Hellenthal (1). 2B — Lam (H), Johnson (R). 3B — Poole 2 (H).
Second Game
Hillsdale;210;000;0;—;3;8;0
Roseburg;000;001;0;—;1;2;1
Fisher and Terrill; Wertz, Anderson (4) and Bowers. W — Fisher. L — Wertz (3-1). 2B — Lam (H).
