Philomath High junior Caleb Babcock threw a complete-game one-hitter with a dozen strikeouts Tuesday as the Warriors moved on to the Class 4A quarterfinals with a 2-0 shutout over Tillamook.
The sixth-seeded Warriors (20-6-1) will next face third-seeded and two-time defending champion Scappoose on the road Friday. The Indians (22-5) posted a 4-1 first-round win over Stayton.
Gallery: PHS baseball vs. Tillamook (May 27, 2025)
A collection of photos from Philomath High’s 2-0 baseball win over Tillamook in the first round of the 4A playoffs on Tuesday.
“We want Scappoose,” PHS junior Rocco De La Rosa said. “We want to see Joe Fagan — he gets all the talk. I want to face him really bad, I think we all do, so it’ll be exciting.”
Fagan is a 6-foot, 185-pound righthanded senior who committed to play college ball at the University of Portland. He was one of three players who saw time on the mound for Scappoose in Tuesday’s win over Stayton but was limited to 29 pitches, which means he would be able to take the mound against Philomath.
The Warriors will head into the Scappoose game in a little bit of a funk at the plate. Philomath is hitting just .180 over its past four games. In the first-round win over the Cheesemakers, the Warriors collected four hits against Tillamook junior Jakoby Goss.
“It’s one of the biggest places where we need to see improvement,” De La Rosa said about the team’s hitting. “Honestly, that guy didn’t throw much … he had some junk but he was medium velocity and his fastball was perfect.”
Still, Philomath didn’t need much offense with Babcock’s rhythm on the mound. Tillamook’s only hit came in the third on a leadoff single by Goss but the team’s next batter bunted into a double play and Babcock followed with a strikeout to end the inning.
Babcock escaped a bases-loaded jam in the second. Tillamook (15-10) batters got on base twice on walks and on an error when an infield pop-up was dropped. The inning ended, however, with Babcock ringing up a Tillamook batter on three pitches.
The Cheesemakers’ only other threat came in the seventh with sophomore Kevin Hurlman leading off the inning with a walk, advancing to second on a balk and reaching third on a ground out to the right side. But again, Babcock came through and ended the inning — and game — with a strikeout looking.
“I was just trying to relax a little bit, trying to control the game,” Babcock said when asked if he felt any pressure in a game turned into a pitchers’ duel.
Philomath scored a run in the first inning for the early lead. De La Rosa reached on an infield single toward the shortstop, advanced to second on a balk, moved to third on a wild pitch and then scored on the second balk of the inning. The Warriors had an opportunity to inflict more early damage but stranded two runners in scoring position.
Neither team created very many opportunities offensively until the fifth when the Warriors got something going. With one out, De La Rosa reached when he was hit by a pitch. He moved up to second when Babcock grounded out to first base and took third on a wild pitch. Senior Grant Niemann followed with a hard single to center field for a 2-0 Warriors lead.
Senior Kayson Olsen kept things interesting with a single into left field but the inning ended on a strikeout.
In the top of the sixth, De La Rosa made a key defensive play when Goss connected toward third base. De La Rosa reacted quickly by barehanding the ball and throwing to Brady Russell at first base for the inning’s first out.
In the bottom half, Philomath’s Russell reached on an error when Tillamook’s third baseman lost the ball on a pop-up. But Goss, who made multiple throws to first base over the course of the game, picked off Russell to clear the bases. Sophomore AJ Altishin then singled to shallow center field but Goss struck out the next two batters.
“I know we’re better than this,” Babcock said afterward. “I mean, we’ve been hitting good the last couple of games and it’s just something we could fix. I think it’s just an off day for sure.”
Babcock threw 94 pitches in the game while facing 25 batters. He allowed just the one hit with three walks and 12 strikeouts.
“There’s definitely some things we need to fix on the bases with getting signs and hitting,” Babcock said. “But I think we’re in a good spot.”
De La Rosa had a good all-around performance in the win and scored Philomath’s two runs.
“We didn’t play to our utmost ability but I think we can recognize that and definitely see where we need to improve for the next game,” he said. “We’re pretty fired up to keep it going.”
Philomath will need to beat Scappoose to move past the quarterfinals for the first time since 2022 when the Warriors advanced to the semifinals.
Elsewhere in the 4A bracket, all of the higher seeds posted victories. In the lower part of the bracket and in addition to wins by Philomath and Scappoose, Junction City defeated The Dalles, 8-3, and Pendleton took care of North Bend, 8-0.
In the upper half, top-seeded Marist Catholic escaped with a 5-4 win over North Maron, Molalla edgedHidden Valley, 5-4, Henley downed La Grande, 12-2, and Newport posted a 4-0 shutout over Gladstone.
Philomath 2, Tillamook 0
Tuesday at Terry Stephenson Field, Philomath HS
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E Tillamook (15–10) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Philomath (20–6–1) 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 4 2
Babcock and Niemann; Goss and Maciel. W — Babcock. L — Goss.