Philomath High School’s baseball team had trouble ending innings in its season opener Thursday against Junction City. The visiting Tigers scored all of its runs with two outs as they posted a 6-1 win.
“For whatever reason, we couldn’t get off the field when we had opportunities with two outs,” PHS coach Levi Webber said. “They made us pay when we gave them a chance.”
Gallery: PHS baseball vs. Junction City (March 15, 2024)
A collection of photos from Philomath High’s season-opening baseball game against Junction City on Thursday.
Junction City’s first two batters reached on singles but a ground-out to first and a strikeout put Philomath (0-1) in position to get out of the inning. However, a ground ball got out of the infield on an error and the Tigers took a 1-0 lead.
In the next inning, juniors Owen Cooper and Josh Berry hit back-to-back doubles with two outs to help Junction City (1-0) go up by three runs. In the fourth, Berry drove in another run with a two-out double.
Sophomore Caleb Babcock got the start on the mound and went three innings for the Warriors. Senior Mason Stearns also threw three innings and sophomore Wylie Griffith finished the game by striking out the side in the seventh.
Webber said he felt Philomath’s pitchers threw fairly well and competed in the zone.
“Caleb was a little all over the place early on and got deep in some counts but he threw strikes when he needed to,” Webber said. “I thought Mason did a good job and gutted out three innings for us. And Wylie looked really good that last inning just throwing strikes.”
Philomath had an opportunity to score early on with Stearns singling to right, Babcock getting hit by a pitch and junior Brady Russell working a walk to load the bases. But Junction City’s junior starter, Jayden Lucas, got out of the jam with a strikeout to end the inning.
The Warriors punched one through in the fourth in what would end up being their only run of the game. Cooper took over at pitcher with one out for the Tigers and Russell issued a rude welcome with a single to center. After a strikeout, the Warriors got a two-out, one-run infield single by sophomore Rocco De La Rosa.
An exciting defensive play for PHS occurred with one out in the sixth. Berry, Junction City’s leadoff batter, hit a double to right field that sent home Cooper, who had earlier reached on an error. The Warriors relay worked and catcher Grant Niemann received a throw in time to put the tag on Cooper.
Unfortunately for Philomath, the Tigers followed with two more runs to pad their lead — one on a wild pitch and the other on Connor Koon’s infield single that drove in Connor Clift, who earlier reached on a double.
Beyond the first inning, Philomath also left runners in scoring position in the fourth and seventh innings. The final inning started off positively for the Warriors with junior Kayson Olsen laying down a bunt single and Niemann following with a solid single to left — both of those swings on first pitches.
But the momentum changed when Junction City picked off Philomath’s base runner at second and followed with a strikeout for two quick outs. Babcock hit an infield single to keep Philomath’s hopes alive but the game ended on a strikeout.
Webber said his team struggled with its energy level.
“For it being opening day and being 60 degrees and sunny out, the lack of energy that we showed up with was pretty disappointing,” he said.
In a nine-inning intrasquad scrimmage Wednesday, Webber said players were flying around and playing “like our hair’s on fire” with outstanding defense and exceptional offense but that could not be replicated on game day.
“We came out today and it’s just like we were a totally different team,” he said. “It’s fixable, it’s in there, we’ve just got to figure out a way to be that team every day and we’ll be just fine.”
The team won’t play for another week with the way the early-season schedule worked out. The Warriors are slated to host Gladstone on Thursday next week.
“After the way we played today, you wish we had another game to get out there and wash that taste out of your mouth,” Webber said. “But it is what it is, we’ve got the schedule that we’ve got and we’ll get after it. It’s supposed to be this nice next week so we should get a lot of innings … just not against anybody other than ourselves.”
Niemann and Stearns each had two hits for Philomath. Berry went 4-for-4 with two RBIs and Cooper was 2-for-3 with three runs scored for the Tigers.
On the mound, Lucas allowed just one hit and no runs with five strikeouts and one walk in his 3-1/3 innings for Junction City. In all, Tigers pitchers had 12 strikeouts and one walk.
Philomath’s pitchers also did fairly well in that category with a collective 10 strikeouts and two walks while allowing 10 hits.
