Saints primed for playoffs

[NWAC Super Regional UPDATE 2:

The Saints are Longview-bound!

In dramatic fashion, Mt. Hood emerged as the winner of the East Super Regional on Saturday. The Saints thus advance to the eight-team NWAC Championship Tournament that starts on Wednesday.

After defeating Grays Harbor and host Big Bend Community College on Friday, Mt. Hood faced Big Bend twice more on Saturday. The Vikings broke open a tight contest late to powder the Saints 19-7 in their first game, which forced an immediate rematch.
In the deciding game, Mt. Hood overcame three separate deficits, pulling even with a clutch 9th-inning home run by third baseman Travis Wiese – who went 5-of-5 in the tilt. The Saints then pushed across the winning run in the top of the 10th inning, for a 10-9 final score.

Centerfielder Trevor Saire was also perfect at the plate, going 4-for-4 at the plate and scoring and driving in three runs.

Finally, holding the fort for Mt. Hood to pull off its comeback was relief pitcher Dorian Broadus, who struck out seven batters and allowed no runs over the game’s final four innings.

The Saints, (33-16 on the season) are slated to play North Division winner Tacoma Community College (35-10) in the tournament opening round on Thursday.]

[NWAC Super Regional UPDATE 1:

Mt. Hood won both of its games on Friday, setting up a two-chances-to-win-one game against host Big Bend Community College today (Saturday, May 21), and advance to the championship round in Longview, Washington, next week.

The Saints rode a complete-game, eight-strikeout shutout thrown by ace pitcher Jeff Nelson to defeat Grays Harbor, 2-0. Then they notched four unearned runs in a two-out, sixth-inning rally to overtake Big Bend, edging the Vikings, 7-6.
Mt. Hood is set to play Big Bend again today at 12 noon, and again at 3 p.m. should they lose.

For real-time score updates: https://nwacsports.org/sports/bsb/composite ]

“Who’s got Saints pride?… When I say Saints, you say pride!… When I say Saints you say pride!.. Saints!.. Pride!…

“Ready, break!”

It’s coming down to the end of the season for MHCC Saints men’s baseball season. The Saints have cinched a playoff spot in the Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC) championship bracket, but must first face Grays Harbor Community College in a Super Regional game set for Friday (May 20) in Moses Lake, Washington.

The team is currently headed by interim coach Danny Sales, a former standout player at Mt. Hood in 2004-06. While Sales played here the team won regional titles and he later was offered a scholarship to play for Cal State-Bakersfield, but his career was cut short due to career-ending injuries.

Sales became the acting Saints coach after the sudden departure of longtime leader Bryan Donohue, also a former Mt. Hood standout, head coach for the last 13 years. It is Sales’s first experience as head coach at any level, but the Saints have run off an overall record of 30 wins and 15 losses, good for third place in the NWAC South Division.

The long road to a potential championship rests on the arm of the Saint’s starting pitcher Jeff Nelson, “The stud of the team,” as Sales puts it. Nelson is equipped with a devastating, fundamentally sound fastball, clocked at close to 90 mph.

I might call him “Hurricane” Nelson, because that’s what could best describe his fastball: quick and devasting, producing 67 strikeouts this season (through May 19) in 81 innings of work. He is currently 10-0 this year, with an outstanding earned run average of 0.77.

Nelson is a local star, a two-sport high school standout in football and baseball with Clackamas High School in the Mount Hood Conference. He was initially on a football college scholarship before he decided that baseball was what he wanted to pursue; he gave up his scholarship and walked on to the MHCC squad, later earning a ride here. He currently has a 2.9-grade point average and is on par to earn his degree in Sports Science.

Leading the way for Saints batters has been shortstop Rikuu Nishida. In 42 games played, the leadoff hitter is tops for Mt. Hood with 59 hits, 36 walks drawn, and a .369 batting average, helping jump-start the offense.

Nishida is from Myagi, Japan – about 250 miles north of Tokyo – and is one of two Japanese players to join the Mt. Hood team this season. The other is standout pitcher, Hiroyuki Yamada, whose win-loss record is 7-2. He comes from Toyoake, Aichi, about 200 miles southwest of Toyko.

The Saints won’t travel internationally. But they do hope to survive this weekend’s Super Regional and earn a second road trip to the NWAC championship tournament, set for Lower Columbia College in Longview, Washington, on May 26-30. For the latest on the tournament bracket, see: https://nwacsports.org/baseball_championship.