Baseball’s eight-game win streak comes to a halt

Despite seeing their eight-game winning streak snapped while dropping a doubleheader Tuesday to Lane, the Saints baseball team still clung to a half-game lead in the Southern Region heading into Thursday’s action.

The Saints are now 11-3 in conference and 18-8 overall.

After throttling the Titans in both games of their previous meeting, MHCC was looking to boost their regional lead Tuesday, but Lane had different ideas. In game one, the Saints scored in the top of the first but the Titans responded with a run of their own in the second inning.

After the Saints took a 3-1 in the top of the third, Lane scored in the bottom of the third, fourth and fifth innings and won the game 4-3. Sophomore Jon Bjorklund took the loss, giving up four runs in his six innings on the bump. Ryan Degner had three hits and one RBI in the losing effort.

With the eight-game win streak a thing of the past, MHCC tried to take one win away from the road trip. They took an early 4-0 lead after two innings in the second game, but the offense stalled in the third and fourth, opening the door for Lane to creep up.

MHCC built a 5-2 lead going into the bottom of the seventh, but Lane exploded to score four runs on four hits off Zev Egli, who took the loss in relief. The 6-5 win gave Lane a doubleheader sweep and tied the season series at two victories each. The loss was highlighted by a 3-run bomb by Hunter Weiss in the second inning..

On April 18, the Saints welcomed the Linn-Benton Road Runners to Oslund Field but were anything but good hosts as they swept a doubleheader from the visitors..

In the first game, MHCC took advantage of three fielding errors by the Roadrunners and won 5-1.

Sophomore pitcher Eric Huson started the game and turned in another strong effort, allowing only one run on four hits in his seven innings of work.
The combination of freshman Joe Piercey and sophomore Egli closed out the final two innings without surrendering a run, giving up one hit between the two relievers.

MHCC only managed four hits in the game, but a 4-0 lead after the sixth inning proved to be more than enough to secure the victory, extending the Saints win streak to seven games.

The back end of the doubleheader was a much more dominant performance by the Saints, shutting out Linn-Benton in a 6-0 win.

Sophomore Brandon Williams took the mound to start, carrying on the success of the pitching staff. Williams went six innings, allowing one hit while recording two strikeouts.

Freshman Michael McCall closed the game with a three-up, three-down seventh inning. MHCC’s offense came alive, piling up 11 hits in the victory, including a three-hit game from sophomore outfielder Weiss, while sophomore Cody Childs and freshman Cole Hamilton each had two hits of their own.

The sweep over the Roadrunners gave MHCC sole possession of first place in the South, and stretched the winning streak to a season high eight games.

The weekend games versus the Chemeketa Storm were postponed and rescheduled for Thursday. Results from the make-up games scores were unavailable at press time.

The Saints will host Clackamas in a 1 p.m. game Saturday.