Prep Baseball: Roseburg’s late lead slips away in 8-7 2nd round loss at Willamette
EUGENE — The Roseburg Indians saw the season come to an end after a rollercoaster of a game against the Willamette Wolverines in the second round of the Class 6A state playoffs Wednesday at Floyd Ogden Field.
The two Southwest Conference foes traded the lead five times over the seven-inning contest, but a five-run fifth inning was the difference for the Wolverines in an 8-7 decision.
“It was a well-fought ballgame there,” Roseburg coach Troy Thompson said. “Both teams had a chance to respond and did. It would have been nice to minimize some things in the telling fifth inning, but it didn’t work out for us today and good job by Willamette for putting that pressure on.”
“Credit to our kids for playing themselves into that position, having a lead and doing a good job and having some very good swings and good offensive approaches today,” Thompson added.
Roseburg ended the year with a 16-12 overall record. Willamette (19-9) moves on to face Jesuit in the quarterfinals on Friday in Portland.
The Wolverines took the lead on a solo home run by Mason Christian in the second inning. The one-out blast off of Roseburg starter Fletcher Coleman sailed over the left field fence, which is just 300 feet down the line.
The Indians were unfazed and responded with a pair of runs in the third. A balk by Willamette starter Jackson Doughty scored Ryland Glasser, who started the inning with Roseburg’s first hit of the game.
Christian Korba delivered the go-ahead run with an RBI double to put the Tribe in front 2-1.
The lead switched hands again in the home half of the third. Wil-Hi tied the game on a one-out single from Brady Barry and Zeke Thomas made it 3-2 in Willamette’s favor with an RBI groundout.
Roseburg again answered immediately. The Indians tied the game on a throwing error, one of three errors by the Wolverines. With runners at first and second, Glasser laid down a sacrifice bunt that was fielded by Doughty, who threw to third base for the force out but his toss missed the target and rolled away allowing a run to score.
The fifth inning proved to be the decisive frame in the ballgame.
Roseburg started with four runs to build a 7-3 advantage in the top half of the inning. The first seven batters all reached base. A throwing error plated one run and the Indians added runs on a bases-loaded hit by pitch and a walk. Mason Young capped the scoring with a single to right field.
The big inning knocked Doughty out of the game. He finished his start with six runs allowed on five hits with seven strikeouts, three walks and one hit batter.
Willamette bounced back from the tough half inning with help from the Indians. Roseburg got the first out quickly, but Coleman started to hit a wall and struggled to make his way through the lineup for a third time.
The top four batters in the Willamette lineup reached base in the fifth. A pair of singles and two walks got things rolling. Korba took over on the mound for the Indians with the bases loaded and facing the clean-up batter, Christian, who worked a walk to drive in the second run of the inning.
A wild pitch scored another run to get the Wolverines within 7-6 and Korba walked the bases loaded before getting a strikeout for the second out. His final batter faced was Doughty, who drew a walk to tie the game.
Greyson Coate took over and got the Indians out of the inning with a strikeout, but not before a wild pitch delivered Willamette the lead.
Roseburg managed to get just one more runner on base over the final two innings, despite some hard hit balls to the outfield. Barry closed out the final three innings for Willamette and earned the win after allowing just one hit and one run.
“This group didn’t ever fold or pitch it in at any point in time throughout the year and they showed that again today,” Thompson said.
Korba was 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored to lead the RHS offense. Butler had two hits and scored twice out of the leadoff spot for Willamette.
Roseburg will graduate four seniors from this year’s roster; Paxton Burke, Amos Bowers, Rylee Cheney and Brady Popken.
“They will be missed for all their contributions, not only on the field, but off the field and leading this team. They did a wonderful job,” Thompson said.
The Indians will have the chance to return a significant number of players from this year’s team. Only two starters on Wednesday were seniors. Highlighting the possible returners are Korba and Danner Wertz, both first team All-Conference selections. Coleman was a second team selection and will be a senior next year.
Roseburg;002;140;0;—;7;6;1
Willamette;012;050;X;—;8;6;3
Coleman, Korba (5), Coate (5) and Bowers; Doughty, Barry (5) and Robbins. W — Barry. L — Korba (3-3). 2B — Korba (R), Bowers (R), Butler (W). HR — Christian (W).
