Baseball takes two wins over SWOCC over the weekend

The Saints baseball team continued its winning ways this past week as the final part of their season approaches.

Over the weekend, they swept a home doubleheader against Southwest Oregon.

In game one, freshman Zane Bambusch started for MHCC and threw seven strong innings, allowing only one run while striking out five Laker hitters. The bullpen combination of freshman Joe Piercey and sophomore Zev Egli allowed only one hit between the two pitchers. Egli recorded the save.

The Saints offense scored in the first, third and fourth innings, highlighted by three hits from sophomore outfielder Hunter Weiss. Sophomores Jake Thran and Ryan Degner each drove in a run, as well as freshman designated hitter Dakota Farmer during the 3-1 victory.

In the second game, freshman Clint Burris started for MHCC, threw four innings and was touched up for eight hits and one run.

The Saints trailed 1-0 after three innings, but eventually brought their offense around. Runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings gave MHCC the lead. Despite only having five hits to SWOCC’s 11, the Saints edged out another 3-1 victory.

Sophomore Brandon Williams earned the win in his two innings of relief, and Egli closed the game to gain his NWAACC-leading fifth save of the season.

In a Tuesday doubleheader which head coach Bryan Donohue called “fun to watch,” the Saints took care of business by taking two games from fourth-place Chemeketa. “We piled on a lot of hits on the road against a team we’ve battled with in previous years,” said Donohue, who’s squad compiled 24 hits during the sweep over the Storm.

Seven position players recorded at least one hit, and sophomore designated hitter Ian Erickson had three hits including a double during Hood’s 6-4 win in game one. Degner hit his third home run of the season during the win.

The Saints found themselves behind 2-1 after four innings during the back half of the doubleheader, but a five-run fifth gave them a lead they would not relinguish. An insurance run in the top of the seventh put the game away, with the final score being 7-4.

“One thing that’s shown up every day is our pitching. That and our defense,” said Donohue when asked which part of his team has been the most consistent.

The stats back up his statement, as his pitching staff is seventh in opponents batting average, as well as boasting the best team ERA in the NWAACC.

Four of the team’s remaining six games are against the second- and third-place teams in the South — Linn-Benton and Lane — but that doesn’t seem to threaten MHCC. “We don’t care who we play; we just want to secure the south,” Donohue said. “Right now I feel that we’re at our best, offensively, that we’ve been all year,” he added, which is important with the NWAACC tournament right around the corner.

According to the NWAACC website, as of Thursday, MHCC was first in the Southern Region with a 19-5 record. Linn-Benton (16-8) was three games back and Lane (15-9) was four behind.

With three games being the “magic number” for the Saints to clinch a division title, they travel to Lane for a  1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday as their quest to win the South continues.

On Tuesday, the Saints will square off against Clackamas in a 1 p.m. doubleheader in Oregon City. On Thursday, Linn-Benton will come to Gresham to play the Saints in a doubleheader to end the regular season. Game one is slated for 1 p.m.