Saints in first following sweep of Clackamas CC

Mt. Hood opened up NWAC league play last week strong against Clackamas Community College, in double-headers played at Clackamas and then on the Saints’ own Oslund Field.

The Saints’ home sweep on Saturday helped them jump to an early lead in the South Division, with a 4-0 record against the Cougars. Scoring proved not to be a problem against Clackamas as the Saints were white-hot in all four games.

The first game on Friday at Clackamas saw the Cougars jump to an early lead, taking the lead 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning. Mt. Hood would answer back in the fourth, to tie the game at 1.

Saints scored two runs in the top of fifth to take a 3-1 lead, but Clackamas would take back the lead late, with a four-run seventh inning to take the lead, at 6-4.

Down by two in the top of the ninth, with their final chance to tie or win the game, the Saints would deliver, scoring seven runs to put the game out of the reach for the Cougars, winning 11-6.

Kody Matthews, Andrew Haley, Tommy Lane, and Isaac Benard would combine for seven hits and eight runs. The Saints as a team would finish with 12 hits. Mt. Hood reliever Chase Wiger would get the win, while pitching only two innings. He shared duties with Seth Rayburn,  who pitched seven innings.

The second game Friday wasn’t even close as the Saints blew out the Cougars, 17-2. Clackamas had no answer for Mt. Hood’s hitters. They finished with 14 hits – even more impressive, as the game was shortened to five innings due to the “mercy rule” (the game is called if one team is leading by 10 runs or more).

The Saints obviously had found their offense, a good sign for them this early in the season.

Game Three in the series would see Clackamas come to Mt. Hood’s home field. The result would be no different: another dominating game for the Saints, which saw Saints batters drive in 10 runs with 15 hits, in a 10-2 win.

Joe Balfour would pitch eight innings for the Saints, allowing only four hits, two runs while getting nine strikeouts. He improved his record to 3-1 for the season, with an ERA of 1.90. Evan Jones would close for the Saints, pitching a solid final inning with no hits and no runs.

The fourth and final game would be another shortened game – this time seven innings – the Saints would hold the Cougars scoreless, in a 7-0 victory. Mt. Hood’s Aaron Clift would get his first win of the season, pitching all seven innings. In his shutout, he gave up four hits and  earned eight strikeouts.

The Saints batters again would have no trouble finding offense, recording seven hits, led by first-baseman Tommy Lane, who had three hits and three RBIs.

The sweep left the Saints at 4-0 in the South Region, and 11-7 overall. Their record the last 10 games is 6-4 – those four losses coming at Western Nevada College, during a spring break road trip.

Mt. Hood was scheduled to play the George Fox junior varsity on Tuesday, but rain forced a cancellation.

The Saints play a doubleheader against Clark CC at home today, then play Clark twice more on Saturday in Vancouver, Wash.