The No. 1 team in Class 4A went down on Saturday in Philomath.
Sophomore Caleb Babock hit a go-ahead two-run double in the fifth inning and pitched a strong five innings to lead the Warriors to a 4-2 victory over North Marion in the weekend baseball matinee at Terry Stephenson Field. With the win, Philomath was able to ruin the Huskies’ bid to finish Oregon West Conference play unbeaten.
“Caleb did a great job of keeping them off balance and competing when he had to and getting some big outs when they had opportunities to put some runs on the board,” PHS coach Levi Webber said about his starter’s performance.
The victory serves as a major confidence boost for the Warriors (17-7 overall, 12-3 Oregon West) after falling to the Huskies (21-3, 14-1) in the first two games of the series.
“I’m super proud of the guys,” Webber said. “I mean, that’s a big win and hopefully it’ll do something for us in the rankings so we can bump up a little bit and host a game in the first round (of the 4A playoffs).”
Philomath was able to effectively work its way through challenges that came up in the field.
“The biggest thing is just the resiliency to come back after a tough one on Thursday,” Webber said in reference to a 9-4 loss that clinched the league title for North Marion. “We did make a few mistakes defensively but then we came back and got ourselves out of it.”
Babcock’s pitch count got up to 93 and he appeared to be showing signs of tiring so Webber went to the bullpen to start the sixth with junior Logan Matthews.
“It’s only his third start in the last few weeks so his stamina isn’t quite up there,” Webber said about the decision to replace Babcock on the mound. “Plus it’s stinking hot and he was just getting a little drained, especially with running the bases and hitting and all that stuff, too.”
Matthews came in and threw two strong innings to earn the save — facing the minimum six batters and striking out four of them. The game ended on a grounder to shortstop Mason Stearns, who threw to Brady Russell at first for the out.
“I’m giving it everything I have in that second inning (of his appearance),” Matthews said. “There’s nothing to save for later.”
Matthews appears to have worked himself into the role of closer with the Warriors.
“I wouldn’t say I mind it,” he said. “Starting games is pretty fun, trying to go deep into games but I’d say I’ve accepted my role as a closer pretty well and I’ve done good with it.”
Offensively, Philomath didn’t exactly tee off but inflicted just enough damage to pull out the win.
“We left a bunch out there,” Webber said in reference to base runners getting stranded in scoring position. “We had at least three if not four opportunities with guys at third and less than two outs.”
North Marion took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on a sacrifice fly that plated Carter Reilly. But the Warriors took the lead in the bottom half with Matthews and Stearns both getting on base for Grant Niemann, who connected on a hard one-out single to left field. The ball skipped past the left fielder for a two-base error, both base runners scored and Niemann ended up on third.
In the fourth, North Marion’s leadoff batter reached on an infield error but Babcock made a pickoff move to first, the runner took off and Stearns tagged him out at second — the second time that had happened in the game. But another PHS error followed and two singles produced a second run for the Huskies to tie the score.
In the bottom of the fifth, Rocco De La Rosa led off with a single to shallow center but he was thrown out trying to steal second. However, Matthews and Stearns followed with walks and Niemann was hit by a pitch in the helmet to load the bases. North Marion went to the bullpen and Babcock issued a rude greeting with a two-run double for what turned out to be the game-winning hit. He ended up 2 for 3 in the game.
Dawson Schrenk led North Marion’s hitters with a 2-for-3 effort. Starter Will Stafford with 4-1/3 innings and allowed four hits and four walks with four strikeouts. Jayden Ohlman threw the final 1-2/3 innings and allowed one hit and had three strikeouts.
For the Warriors, Babcock allowed five hits, three walks and one earned run with six strikeouts. Matthews allowed no hits and fanned four in his two innings.
“We’re about to go into the playoffs and this is a huge ego boost for us,” Matthews said. “I think we needed it after the first two losses against them.”
Confidence has taken hold with the PHS lineup.
“I think we all know we’re a great baseball team,” Matthews said, “and we can make a run this year.”
The Warriors earned automatic qualification into the Class 4A playoffs with their second-place finish in the conference. The first round doesn’t arrive until May 21, so Philomath will play a couple of playoff-quality opponents to get ready for the postseason.
Up first will be a home game Tuesday against Santiam Christian, a 3A school that finished second in its district to qualify for the playoffs. Then on Thursday, the Warriors will head up to Banks for a showdown with the Braves, a program that is also headed to the 4A playoffs and is among the top five teams in the OSAA rankings.
