I.V. boys lose against Irish & Mustangs
From our weekly issue dated May 13, 2009
After the first inning it turned into a pitching duel at a neutral site, the All Sports Park, Legion Field in Grants Pass on Saturday, May 9.
The Mustangs scored all three runs in the bottom of the first on a walk, error and back-to-back doubles. Illinois Valley’s Antonio Escalante, who took the loss, then settled down and held Hidden Valley for the next five innings, Brian Biggs closed to secure six shut-out innings.
I.V. had four base runners with singles: Andrew McLaughlin, Curtis Paulson, and Ben Kendall (2), all left on base. Final score: Hidden Valley 3, Illinois Valley 0.
“We pitched and played really well in the first game, good enough to win,” said I.V. head coach Keith Fisher.
The second game was more offensive in nature with more runners on base and more runs scored. The Mustangs scored in every inning, with the big ones being the second and fifth.
The Mustangs scored five times in the second on a walk and a couple of base hits, but most damaging for the Cougars were four errors. I.V. runs came in the fourth with six Cougar base runners.
Anthony Becker reached base on a Mustang error; Biggs singled; Josh Free walked; and another base-on-balls to McLaughlin sent Becker in. Biggs scored when Curtis Paulson reached base on another Mustang error. Brandon Foraker singled in Free. But the Cougars left three on base that inning and 11 the entire game.
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Jack Anderson and Biggs pitched well with four and one strikeouts respectively, but there was no run support and five errors behind them. The Mustangs won 15-3 in five to secure the Skyline Conference championship and a bye in the first round of the coming 4-A state playoffs.
“With some timely hitting we would have left less guys on base and if we made no errors, we had a shot to win this one too,” said Fisher. “The guys did a great job today. I couldn’t have been more proud of my whole team -- Hidden Valley is a really good team.”
Home runs by the Irish and the Cougars set the stage for most of the scoring in Riddle on Thursday, May 7.
The Irish had a two-run home run in the second and a two-run home run in the third to take a 4-0 lead. In the fifth inning, Cougars Cory Glasgow singled, and lefty Antonio Escalante hit a towering home run to right field to make the score 4-2, Irish.
But the fifth inning belonged to Riddle. The Irish scored eight runs on four hits; one of which was a solo home run, two free passes and two Cougar errors, to end the game with the 10-run rule in five innings: 13-2.
Brian Biggs, Zachary Anderson, Josh Free, Andrew McLaughlin and Escalante all pitched. Anderson took the loss.
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