Sports

Rainouts lead to ‘tough road ahead’
By Jon Fuccillo

The Saints baseball team has won five out of six games in the last week, taking them to a league record of 13-5, and moving them to the top of the Southern Region standings. As of Thursday, they were tied with Clackamas CC for first place in the region but the Cougars results were unavailable at press time.

The team now has a tough road ahead due to recent rainouts. “We have a tough stretch coming up with so many games in a short amount of time,” said head coach Bryan Donohue. “It’s been really nice getting back in the swing of things and winning some big games.

“The biggest thing right now is to play hard and come out with the same intensity every day. We can’t take any days off. We need to stay on top of things regardless of rainouts.

“As a player it’s tough showing up each day mentally ready to go come game day, then it gets rained out,” the coach said. “But we’re due for some good weather and we need to take advantage of that.”

The team had a double-header against Lane CC April 26, where they had two great outings on the mound by freshman pitchers Nick Opitz and Chris Vitus. In game one, the Saints dominated with an 8-1 victory, including a 4-for-4 performance at the plate by sophomore Billy Klontz. In game two, they played a much closer game but came out with a 9-6 victory.

The Saints had another double-header against Lane on April 24. They had powerful performances in both games, starting with excellent pitching by sophomore Jered Thompson, who struck out 11 batters in a 3-0 win. In game two, freshman pitcher Dylan Jones pitched an 11-1 complete game victory while striking out six batters. On offense, they were led by sophomores Nate Shaver and Brad Walters, who both hit homeruns.

“Our players have been really stepping it up recently,” said Donohue. “Everyone on the team needs to be ready to play. Baseball has a funny way of working out. Due to injuries, we need to have everyone ready to get in and step it up. Everyone will get called upon during the long stretch of playing so many games, even those guys who haven’t played many innings at all.” In addition to injury, the team has battled with some off the field due to academic ineligibility problems, losing two of their starters after the winter term.

The team has a tough schedule with a lot of games in a short amount of time, and their big test will be against Clackamas CC Saturday.

“Clackamas in the past hasn’t had much luck against us. But they have a very good and talented team this year,” said Donohue. “We have struggled against them this year, losing all four games, including two really close games in which we just didn’t execute when we had the chances.

“We just need to come out and take care of business,” Donohue said. “We are going to come out and play them with a chip on our shoulder. Plus we have had such great success against them in the past. Our team needs to play much cleaner ball. We need to take advantage of every opportunity during these games.”

The Saints played a doubleheader Thursday against the Linn-Benton Roadrunners at home, taking game one 12-6 and losing game two 4-2, completing the split. Freshman left-hander Nick Opitz took game one and freshman right-hander Chris Vitus pitched in the Saints loss. They play Clackamas next at 1 p.m. Saturday at home.