American Legion Baseball: Docs feeling ready for state, rematch with Hillsdale Merchants
Confidence and momentum. Two things that can take a sports team on a magical ride in the postseason.
The Roseburg Dr. Stewart’s American Legion baseball team feels like it has both as it prepares to begin play in the AAA Oregon state tournament on Saturday at Joe Etzel Field on the campus of the University of Portland.
“I think we’re in a good position right now,” second-year Docs player Ty Hellenthal said. “I feel like we’re playing the best ball that we have all year. We’re really on an upward trajectory and we’re playing great right now. The team’s meshing really well and I’m excited for the state tournament.”
“I think we’re very confident. I think we all trust each other and we all know that we can get the job done if we play as a team and keep our energy up,” Docs slugger Cal Robbins said.
Dr. Stewart’s finished the regular season going 11-4 over the final two weeks of the schedule. That included a pair of series wins in league play against Central Oregon and Grants Pass, which helped secure Roseburg second place in Area 4 and an automatic berth in the state tournament.
“Lately, the Stewies have been playing some good baseball. The beginning of the summer it wasn’t how we wanted it, but I think we ended up hot, ended off strong and hoping to keep it rolling,” Docs pitcher/infielder Jake Johnson said.
The Docs (21-18, 9-7 Area 4) will face the Portland Hillsdale Merchants (27-7, 8-2 Area 2) in the first round of the tournament at 10 a.m. Saturday. The two clubs met in a nonleague doubleheader last Sunday and both teams took home a win. Roseburg won the opener 6-3, but dropped the nightcap 3-1.
There might be differing opinions on whether it’s a good thing to face the same team so quickly in a pressure situation, but the Docs seem to be comfortable with the assignment.
“It’s good to see a team that you’ve played recently. I heard that they were missing a few guys, so it might be a little bit different,” Hellenthal said. “I know that we’re going to throw some different pitchers as well and I’m really looking forward to seeing how it works out against the team we played most recently.”
“It helps both teams,” Dr. Stewart’s centerfielder Dane St. Clair said. “They didn’t have all their players, so we don’t really know who all is on their team, but we should be fine.”
Roseburg is hoping to win its first state title since 2010, when the Docs went all the way to the American Legion World Series and finished third in the country. The Stewies have come close to playing for the state crown in each of the past four seasons, ending the year in the semifinals of the double-elimination bracket.
“We know it’s been a long time and we’re trying to get over that hump,” Johnson said. “We talk about it every year. Hopefully keep moving on after the state tournament. I personally would love to play in this uniform as long as I can, because these last couple of games could be the last couple of games of me wearing a Roseburg uniform. So hopefully I can wear it as long as I can.”
Climbing that mountain is never easy and it’s many of the familiar names that appear to be top contenders for the state championship again this year.
Medford (37-6, 12-4 Area 4) and the Portland Barbers (34-3, 9-1 Area 2) have compiled the highest win totals of the seven teams that have already qualified for the tournament. The Mustangs won the Area 4 title. The Barbers were the Area 2 champs, but are also the host of the state tournament and didn’t factor into the Area 2 seeding for the bracket.
The Docs lost more than they won against Medford and the Barbers during the regular season, but Johnson said those weren’t Roseburg’s best efforts.
“I think we match up pretty well against those guys, and we’ve seen everyone in the tournament, so we’re going to know what it takes to get it done,” Johnson said.
“We’ve got to play a complete game of baseball. We’ve got to play good defense behind our pitchers and we’ve just got to hit,” Robbins said. “I feel like we can struggle a bit on defense, make some mental errors and then games can get away from us. But I think if we play clean defense and swing it, that we beat good teams and we can beat any good team.”
More than half of Roseburg’s roster was with the team last year when the Docs made it to Day 4 of the tournament before bowing out in Eugene. That’s valuable experience to help prepare for this year.
“Last year helped me out a lot, because I was going in there kind of blind. I didn’t really know how it felt until we lost,” St. Clair said. “All of us that have already experienced this last year, we already know what it’s going to come down to and what it’s going to take to win it. We’re going to just have to have everyone on the same page.”
“I think we can’t look ahead too far. Just focus on each game and each day,” Hellenthal said.
The state tournament runs Saturday through Wednesday, when a champion is crowned. The winner will represent Oregon in the Northwest Regional set for Aug. 7-11 in Billings, Montana.
