The Philomath High School baseball team continued its late-season surge with a 5-0 victory Monday evening at North Marion. The Warriors have won five straight games and are now tied for first place in the Oregon West Conference.
Philomath’s Caleb Babcock tossed a two-hitter, struck out 15 and gave up just one walk in a complete-game performance. The senior pitcher faced 26 batters and threw 108 pitches while lowering his season earned run average to 2.70.
The Warriors gave Babcock plenty of run support from the start by scoring three runs in the first and two more in the second. Sophomore Sammy Hernandez opened the game by getting hit by a pitch and after stealing second and moving up to third on a sac bunt by senior Wylie Griffith, scored on a ground out by junior AJ Altishin.
Babcock followed with a single and scored when junior CK Kvidt smacked a line-drive triple to center. Junior Gavin Bennett drove Kvidt home with a double to right for a 3-0 lead.
Sophomore Jayce Iverson opened the second inning with a double and Hernandez followed with a sacrifice and reached on an error by the second baseman. Iverson later scored on a passed ball and Hernandez reached home on another North Marion error.
Philomath failed to score the rest of the game but had matters well in hand with Babcock dominating on the mound. In all, the Warriors collected seven hits with Kvidt and Iverson each getting two hits.
North Marion junior Marcos Marquez got the start for the Huskies and allowed six hits, three earned runs and four walks with one strikeout over 5-2/3 innings. Senior Cole Laninga finished the last 1-1/3, allowing one hit and one walk with one strikeout. Laninga and senior Riley Jones had singles for the Huskies.
Sweet Home upset Stayton, 9-8, on Monday to drop the Eagles down into a tie atop the league standings. Two games remain in the regular season for the two schools, both currently with 9-4 records. Stayton appears to have the tiebreaker edge by taking the season series over the Warriors, 2-1, and with a higher OSAA ranking at No. 7 to Philomath’s No. 11.
Philomath (13-11) and North Marion (5-18) continue the series on Wednesday at Terry Stephenson Field with the first pitch slated for 5 p.m.
Philomath 5, North Marion 0
Monday, May 18, at Bob Brack Stadium, North Marion HS, Aurora
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E Philomath (13-11, 9-4) 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 5 7 2 North Marion (5-18, 3-10) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2
Babcock and Herbert; Marquez, Laninga (6) and Flores. W — Babcock. L — Marquez. 2B — Bennett, Iverson. 3B — Kvidt.
Junior varsity: Philomath 17, North Marion 4 (5)