The Philomath High School baseball team opened its three-game series against Cascade on Monday evening at Terry Stephenson Field with an 8-3 victory.
Senior pitcher Caleb Babcock allowed four hits, walked just one batter and struck out 13 in a complete-game performance. Offensively, the Warriors picked up 10 hits with six of them going for extra bases.
Philomath (8-10 overall, 4-3 Oregon West) fell behind 1-0 in the top of the first but responded immediately in the bottom half with one-run doubles by juniors AJ Altishin and CK Kvidt. After the Cougars tied the game in the second, Philomath regained the lead in the bottom half on a one-run single by Wylie Griffith.
Cascade (6-12, 5-2) again tied the game in the top of the third and the score remained 3-3 into the bottom of the fourth. That’s when Philomath erupted for four runs to give Babcock a lead to work with going into the final three innings.
Going up against a new pitcher, Philomath scored on a one-run triple by sophomore Sammy Hernandez, a one-run single by Griffith and a pair of sacrifice flies by Babcock and junior Gavin Bennett.
Cascade had only a single base runner the rest of the game — a hit batter — and the Warriors added another run in the sixth when Babcock reached home on a wild pitch.
Hernandez, Griffith, Altishin and sophomore Jayce Iverson each had two hits for Philomath.
The Warriors and Cougars are scheduled to meet again on Wednesday at Cascade with the first pitch at 5 p.m.
Philomath 8, Cascade 3
Monday, May 4, at Terry Stephenson Field, Philomath HS
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E Cascade (6-12, 5-2) 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 3 4 1 Philomath (8-10, 4-3) 2 1 0 4 0 1 x 8 10 1
Babcock and Herbert; Whelden, Hendricks (4) and Metcalf. W — Babcock. L — Whelden. 2B — Altishin (P) 2, Kvidt (P), S. Hernandez (P), Hudson (C). 3B — Kamm (C), S. Hernandez (P), Babcock (P).
Junior varsity: Cascade 12, Philomath 6.