Roseburg baseball claims outright SWC title after split with Grants Pass
By Knight Jarecki
For the first time since 2019, the Roseburg Indians claimed the Southwest Conference baseball title with a 4-3 win over Grants Pass in Game 1 of their Saturday doubleheader at Bill Gray Legion Stadium at Champion Car Wash Field.
The Indians (17-8, 12-6 SWC) fell to Grants Pass (13-10, 10-8) 2-1 in the second game, creating a four-way tie between Grants Pass, South Medford, North Medford and Willamette for third place in the league. Sheldon finished one game behind Roseburg in second.
Roseburg and Grants Pass were the only two SWC teams in action Saturday after Sheldon and Willamette swept their doubleheaders against South Eugene and North Medford, respectively. With North Medford losing both of its games, Roseburg needed just one win to claim the conference title outright, and got it in the opener, thanks to great pitching from Jake Johnson and a costly error by Grants Pass.
Johnson, a senior who got the start on senior day, won his fourth straight start, throwing seven strong innings and finishing with 10-plus strikeouts for the third time in as many outings, matching a career high of 12 that he reached two weeks ago at North Medford.
“My fastball was really working today,” Johnson said. “Got it going early and kept using it to command the zone and put the kids away.”
Johnson allowed one run in the first and two in the fifth on five hits across both frames, but kept the Cavemen’s offense at bay for the remainder of the game with stretches of dominance, including a string of six strikeouts in seven straight at-bats during innings one through three.
Roseburg got the offense going in the first inning, scoring three runs on four hits to take an early 3-1 lead. Johnson, Luke Robbins and AJ Black all had RBI singles in the inning for the Indians.
Jace McGowan was excellent for Grants Pass, containing the Roseburg offense and facing the minimum across innings two through five. This allowed the Cavemen to crawl their way back and tie the game at 3 in the fifth after RBI hits by Braeden Reese and Nathan Bassett.
Johnson broke the Indians’ slumping streak at the plate in the sixth with a one-out double for Roseburg’s first baserunner since the second inning. An out and two batters later, freshman Danner Wertz hit a sharp groundball to third base. After a diving stop by Cavemen third baseman Evan Valenzuela, the throw got past the first baseman Reese, allowing the go-ahead run to score from second for Roseburg.
“Immediately, I saw the third baseman make a pretty good play,” Wertz said. “Then I saw the ball get passed the first basemen and just took off towards second. I was pretty excited.”
The one-run cushion was all the Indians needed as Johnson struck out his 11th and 12th batters in the seventh en route to closing the door for the win.
“It’s such a good feeling to win the league title, knowing this is my first time as a three-year varsity player,” Johnson said. “None of my brothers won it, so now I can talk a little crap to them.”
Grants Pass sophomore pitcher Cam Holland shut down the Indians in Game 2, allowing just one run in the first inning before mowing through the Roseburg lineup for the rest of the way. The right-hander allowed three hits with four strikeouts in the complete-game effort.
Despite the success Holland had, the Indians felt it was their own offensive struggles that were the difference in Game 2.
“There wasn’t anything tough about him,” Wertz said. “We just have to hit the ball better moving forward.”
Wertz went the distance on the mound for the Indians in the nightcap, allowing two runs — both unearned — across seven frames. The freshman fanned three and walked one.
“A lot of my off-speed was working. The curveball, change up and slider,” Wertz said. “My approach was just to get soft contact and make them roll over.”
Roseburg will now wait and see where it lands in the 6A bracket, which will be released on Friday. The Indians have the final week of the regular season off before the playoffs begin May 26.
“We gotta keep it rolling and play well,” Johnson said.” It’s now win or go home.”
First Game
Grants Pass 100 020 0 — 3 8 1
Roseburg 300 001 0 — 4 6 0
McGowan and Bassett; Johnson and Bowers. W — Johnson (8-1). L — McGowan. 2B — Childers (GP), McGowan (GP), Johnson (R). 3B — McGowan (GP).
Second Game
Grants Pass 000 200 0 — 2 7 0
Roseburg 100 000 0 — 1 3 1
Holland and Bassett; Wertz and Bowers. W — Holland. L — Wertz (5-3). 2B — Hays (GP), Bowers (R), Robbins (R).
