American Legion Baseball: Docs sweep league doubleheader vs Redmond, move into 2nd place
The goal every season is to be playing your best ball come the month of July, and while it may not be their best just yet, the Roseburg Dr. Stewart’s are certainly on the upswing.
The Stewies have won seven of their last nine games and have climbed their way into second place in the Area 4 standings after sweeping the Redmond SunWest Generals in a league doubleheader Monday afternoon at Bill Gray Stadium at Champion Car Wash Field.
Roseburg (17-16, 8-6 Area 4) used a 7-run fourth inning to secure an 8-2 victory in the opener and rallied late for a comeback 9-7 win in the nightcap. The Docs improved their overall winning percentage above .500 for the first time all season and surpassed the Generals for second place, two games behind league-leading Medford.
“It was a really good team ballgame today. That was probably the best team ball we’ve played all year. So, we just got to continue that,” Roseburg shortstop Paxton Burke said.
“We really came together today, which I thought was really nice,” first-year Docs player Teagan Sprague added.
Roseburg led wire-to-wire in Game 1. Jake Johnson got the Docs on the board with an RBI single that scored Dane St. Clair, who got on base with a one-out triple.
The lead ballooned in the fourth inning when the Docs batted through the lineup and scored seven runs on five hits, one error and benefited from a walk and a hit batter. Ty Hellenthal, Fletcher Coleman and Burke all had RBIs, but it was a massive three-run blast by Cal Robbins that highlighted the frame.
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An 8-run lead was more than enough for Danner Wertz, who picked up his third complete-game victory of the season by allowing just five hits and two runs over seven innings. The rising-sophomore at Roseburg High School did not issue a walk and struck out one.
“It was pretty cool setting the table for the sweep today,” Wertz said. “I just tried to throw a lot of off-speed and get ahead of hitters and get weak contact.”
Roseburg coach Tim Sustaire said he was happy to see the team bounce-back after a poor showing on Sunday against the Portland Barbers. Wertz said “getting that Game 1 was huge. You have so much more confidence to get Games 2, 3 and 4.”
The Docs carried that momentum into the nightcap, where they pulled ahead 2-0 in the first inning on an RBI triple by Robbins and an RBI groundout by Tauj Flora.
Game 2 was a see-saw battle from there.
Roseburg tacked on a run on a fielder’s choice in the third inning for a 3-1 lead, but Redmond (17-10, 5-5) responded with a three-run, two-out rally that gave it a 4-3 edge and its first lead of the day.
The Generals scored a run on a double by Camden Hartlaub and plated two more on another double by Gage Martinez. Redmond had four doubles total in Game 2.
Robbins doubled to score Fletcher Coleman and Flora drove in the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly in the fifth. It was Flora’s third RBI of the game despite not having a hit.
Once again, Redmond overcame a deficit with three runs in the sixth inning that gave the Generals a 7-5 advantage.
The Stewies weren’t flustered and put the pressure right back on the Generals by scoring four times in the home half of the sixth to regain the lead at 9-7. Sprague had a one-out single that started the scoring, followed by an RBI single by Burke. An error on an attempted double-play allowed the Docs to score twice more and build the two-run advantage.
Sprague closed out the game. He quickly got two outs in the seventh, but allowed a pair of singles before getting Eli Pupo to ground out to second for the final out.
“If you make the game small, then you play big,” said Sprague, a rising-junior at Umpqua Valley Christian. “That’s something I was told at UVC and I just carry it with me.”
“We had competitive (at-bats) today and that’s what we really needed,” Burke said. “We’ve kind of been taking some lazy hacks, it seems like, and so us being competitive today and taking really good swings is what helped.”
Burke broke out of a self-admitted slump, going 5-for-7 between the two games, with two RBIs, a double and a triple. Robbins was 3-for-6 with four RBIs on a home run, triple and a double.
The Docs have just two league games remaining and they can clinch a postseason berth with either two wins at Redmond on Wednesday or one win and a Eugene loss. Eugene lost twice to Medford on Monday and will play a doubleheader against the Mustangs on Wednesday at Harry & David Field in Medford.
Wednesday’s doubleheader begins at 2 p.m. from the David M. Jaqua Sports Complex in Redmond.
First Game
Redmond;000;001;1;—;2;5;1
Roseburg;010;700;X;—;8;8;2
Sanchez, Ruettgers (5) and Dean; Wertz and Bowers. W — Wertz (3-0). L — Sanchez. 2B — Burke (Ro.), Flora (Ro.). 3B — St. Clair (Ro.). HR — Robbins (Ro.).
Second Game
Redmond;010;033;0;—;7;12;3
Roseburg;201;024;X;—;9;8;2
Altizer, C. Pupo (5), Martinez (6) and Dean; Hellenthal, Coleman (6), Sprague (6) and Robbins. W — Sprague (2-1). L — Martinez. 2B — Williams (Re.), Hartlaub (Re.), Dean (Re.), Martinez (Re.), Robbins (Ro.), Johnson (Ro.). 3B — Robbins (Ro.), Burke (Ro.).
