Ontario’s bats wake up against Vale
Tigers rack up 14 hits in mercy-rule win
By: Argus Observer sports staff
Wednesday, April 29, 2009 11:00 AM PDT
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| ARGUS OBSERVER FILE PHOTO
Ontario’s Riley Horn takes a hack at a pitch in this Argus Observer file photo taken earlier this year. Tuesday, Horn went 2-for-3, and the Tigers rattled off 14 hits in their 13-2 drubbing of Shadd Samio and the Vikings. |
Ontario—The Tigers came into their game against Vale Tuesday with the memory of their doubleheader loss to Baker, and they did not like having that memory around, so they took their frustrations out on the Vikings to the tune of 13-2 in a non-league game in Ontario.
Ontario went with the bullpen rotation for its pitching in the win, while Vale stuck with one gun in Shadd Samio.
For the Tigers, Riley Horn got the start and worked two innings, followed by Craig Raetz for an inning.
Carlos Barba tossed the fourth, and Nico Martinez and Josh Mejia worked the fifth.
“We have a league game on Friday, so we wanted to use today’s game to get our pitchers some work,” Ontario’s long-time head baseball coach Les Horn said.
Ontario plated eight runs in its first at-bat. Vale answered with one run in the top of the second.
In the Tigers second stint at the plate, they added five more runs and expanded their lead to 13-1.
Vale plated its last run in the top of the fifth inning.
Raetz led the Tigers in run production with three RBIs, while Chase Fields and Mejia each drove in two.
Vale’s Ryan Nyborg finished the day going 3-for-3 with a double and an RBI, and Nate Rutten finished with a 2-for-3 day.
The win improved the Tigers’ record to 12-8 overall.
Friday, the Tigers will look to improve their Greater Oregon League record when they travel to La Grande.
Ontario is currently 2-4 in league play.
“In that first meeting with La Grande, we felt like we let one get away from us,” Horn said. “We need to go up there and take care of business.”
Horn said, if his team will swing the bats like it did against Vale, he believes it has a chance of taking two at La Grande.
“I think we are heading back up,” Horn said. “Last week’s losses to Baker was our low point this season. I’m hoping that we are back on track. Its a mental thing. We have the athletes. We have speed. We have all the ingredients to get it done. We just have to make the attitude adjustment to get the job done.”
New Plymouth ........................7
Marsing ..................................3
Marsing
Tuesday in Marsing, the New Plymouth Pilgrims almost let a sure thing get away from them when they hit the diamond against the Marsing Huskies in a Western Idaho Conference baseball game.
Marsing plated the first run of the game in the home half of the first inning and made that 1-0 lead stick until the top of the third inning.
In New Plymouth’s at-bat in the third, Kyle King reached base on an error.
Casey Pfeifer was up next, and he drove in King with a single and an error to left field to tie the game at one.
Marsing, looking to play the role of spoiler in the WIC standings, answered with two runs in the bottom of the third to reclaim the lead at 3-1.
Starting New Plymouth pitcher Jake Mellenthin worked three innings, giving up the Huskies’ first three runs, before being pulled for Brady Harris in the fourth.
New Plymouth showed it support of the pitching change with a run in the top of the fifth inning to cut the Husky lead to one run at 3-2.
Harris kept Marsing at bay, and New Plymouth went to work in the sixth with two more runs and the lead at 4-3.
The Pilgrims added three more runs in the seventh for the final margin.
“We started out flat tonight,” New Plymouth head baseball coach Darin Gray said. “We were getting the hits. We just were not stringing hits together in the early innings. Jake (Mellenthin) was doing his job, but we went to Harris to try and create a spark on offense.”
Harris picked up the win in his four innings of relief, as he struck out five and walked one.
During the Pilgrims come-from-behind victory, the Parma Panthers did New Plymouth a favor by defeating Nampa Christian. The Trojan loss assured the Pilgrims of at least a tie for the WIC title.
New Plymouth will host Melba at 5 p.m. today in the WIC finale and the Pilgrims will also honor their lone senior on the roster, Jaime Garcia.
A win tonight for the Pilgrims, and they will win the WIC outright. A loss, however, and they will be co-champions but will still retain the top seed.
The Pilgrims will play host during the district tournament.
“Our goal coming into the season was to work hard and compete,” Gray said. “And these kids have made a believer out of me.”
Payette ...................................19
McCall-Donnelly ....................... 2
Payette
The Payette baseball team posted a 19-2 bashing of the McCall-Donnelly Vandals in the Snake River Valley Conference finale Tuesday in Payette.
With the win, the Pirates (16-7 overall, 6-2 SRV) will enter the 3A District III tournament as the No. 2 seed.
“I really think the way we have been on the bump this year has given us a chance to win every game we played this season,” Payette head coach Tracy Bratcher said. “I knew coming in to the season I was excited to see how our pitchers would perform this year.”
With a state appearance last season, the expectations are high at Payette, and Bratcher said the team can meet those expectations if it will just go out there and play ball.
“I think we are close to peaking,” Bratcher said. “We have a couple days of practice, and we will have them ready to compete at the district tournament.”
The Pirates scored their runs in bunches with five in the second inning, eight in the third and six in the fifth.
Pirate hurler Brad Pollock picked up the win in three innings of work, striking out six and walking one.
Brad Huddleston drove in three runs to led the Pirates, and Alex Mackey added two to his RBI total in the win.
With the regular season complete, the teams of the SRV will prepare to battle it out in the 3A District III tournament, which Payette is hosting.
In the play-in game, Homedale and McCall will trade pitches Saturday for the right to square off against Fruitland at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, while Payette will host Weiser at 5 p.m. Saturday at Harmon Killebrew field.
“It is huge to host the tournament,” Bratcher said. “We have a Weiser team that will be gunning for us on Tuesday.”
