Prep Baseball: Late collapse costs Roseburg in 12-7 loss to South Medford

The Roseburg Indians were three outs away from ending a three-game losing skid and picking up a much needed Southwest Conference baseball victory, but the South Medford Panthers rallied to win 12-7 and stun the Tribe Tuesday at Champion Car Wash Field.

South Medford (12-7, 7-6 SWC) scored six runs in its final at-bats to overcome a 7-6 deficit. A Dalton Ruettgers single tied the game and Cole Johannes drove in the go-ahead run. The Panthers piled on with a two-run double by Grady Clark and a sacrifice fly from Easton Douglas.

“Frustrating again, to have a lead going into the seventh inning and to unfortunately not only give up the lead, but give up a bunch of runs. It doesn’t feel good at this point,” Roseburg coach Troy Thompson said.

“We’ve got to do some things a little cleaner defensively and certainly on the mound to give ourselves a better chance to win some of these tough league ballgames.”

The Panthers took a 1-0 lead in the first inning after Keegan Painter led off the game with a double and scored on a fielding error.

Roseburg (10-7, 6-4) rebounded to take a 5-1 lead in the third inning against South starter Max Ihli.

The Indians sent nine hitters to the plate in the inning. A sacrifice fly by Fletcher Coleman tied the game and a fielding error allowed Roseburg to build a 2-1 lead.

The lead grew thanks to a two-run triple by Danner Wertz and a balk capped the scoring by the Indians.

South Medford chipped away at the deficit over the next couple of innings, scoring three runs against Roseburg starter Danner Wertz in the fourth inning  and tacking on another in the fifth.

Wertz allowed five runs over five innings on seven hits. He had no strikeouts, walked two and hit a batter. The sophomore did not factor into the pitching decision.

The Panthers stuck with Ihli into the seventh. The senior allowed seven runs on five hits over 6 2/3 innings. He struck out seven, walked four and hit one batter.

It looked like Ihli might take a loss after Roseburg retook the lead in the home half of the sixth. Mason Young walked to start the frame and scored on a sacrifice fly by Christian Korba to give the Indians a 7-6 advantage.

Korba finished the game 1-for-3 with a pair of RBIs.

Paxton Burke was tasked with holding on to the lead, but the Panthers managed to get five of the first six batters in the seventh on base as they mounted their comeback victory.

Burke took the loss, allowing six runs on five hits over 1 1/3 innings.

The Indians got a two-out infield single from Ryland Glasser in the seventh, but fell well short of threatening a comeback.

South Medford had four players with multiple hits, led by Painter who was 3-for-4 with three runs scored.

The Panthers and Indians wrap up their season series with a conference doubleheader at noon Saturday at Harry and David Field in Medford.

S. Medford;100;311;6;—;12;13;3

Roseburg;005;101;0;—;7;6;2

Ihli, Patrick (7) and Douglas; Wertz, Burke (6), Glasser (7) and Bowers. W — Ihli (3-3). L — Burke (2-1). 2B — Douglas (SM), G. Clark (SM), Painter (SM), Korba (R). 3B — Wertz (R).