The Philomath High School baseball team erupted for seven runs in the fourth inning and posted its first victory of the season, 11-3, over Dallas in the team’s opening game of the Newport Spring Break Tournament.
The Warriors (1-2) will next play in Newport on Tuesday with two games — 11:30 a.m. vs. St. Helens and 2 p.m. vs. Henley.
Philomath trailed 1-0 through three innings but broke through in the fourth while sending 11 batters to the plate. Junior Kayson Olsen, junior Logan Matthews and junior Grant Niemann had singles in the inning with most of the runs resulting from Dallas errors and reaching base on walks and getting hit by pitches. Matthews and Niemann drove in runs with two-out singles. Two other runs scored when Mason Stearns reached on an error in right field.
The Warriors scored two runs in each of the final two innings. In the sixth, sophomore Rocco De La Rosa was hit by a pitch and Matthews reached on an error with both scoring on a two-out line drive to center field by Stearns. In the seventh, junior Brady Russell walked and later came around to score for a 10-3 lead. The team’s 11th run occurred when sophomore Caleb Babcock, who had earlier walked, scored on De La Rosa’s sacrifice fly to center field.
Philomath’s Stearns got the win at pitcher with a line that included six hits, one earned run and two walks with five strikeouts in five innings. Griffith and Matthews each pitched an inning in relief.
At the plate, Stearns went 2 for 4 and drove in two runs. Griffith and De La Rosa also had a pair of RBIs.
Dallas (1-5) outhit the Warriors, 8-6, but left 12 runners stranded on base and committed four errors.
