Senior Joe Barnes threw a complete-game four-hitter Wednesday in Philomath High’s 10-1 baseball victory over Crook County.
Barnes faced 25 batters and in seven innings, allowed one run and one walk with 11 strikeouts. Barnes and his defense retired the first eight batters before the Cowboys finally broke through with a two-out single.
Philomath (3-1-1), which was ranked No. 4 in the most-recent OSAAtoday coaches poll, scored its first run with a little help from Crook County’s pitching. The Warriors loaded the bases when three straight batters were hit by pitches. Junior Rocco De La Rosa then walked to force in the run.
In the second inning, the Warriors went up 4-0. Senior Kayson Olsen smacked a bases-loaded, two-run double. On the play, senior Grant Niemann advanced to third and then scored moments later on a balk.
The game remained 4-0 until the top of the fifth when Crook County scored its lone run. Senior Ethan Lamphere singled, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a balk.
Philomath responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning to take a 6-1 lead. De La Rosa put a ball in play to drive in Niemann, who had led off the inning with a hit. Later in the inning, senior Brady Russell doubled in Olsen.
The Warriors put the game out of reach in the sixth with four more runs. Barnes led off the inning with a double, junior Wylie Griffith followed with a single and sophomore Jacob Hernandez drew a walk to load the bases. Junior Caleb Babcock then worked another walk to force in the first run of the inning.
The next batter, Niemann, came up and delivered with a line-drive double to left field to clear the bases.
Niemann went 2 for 2 with two runs and three RBIs and Olsen was 2 for 3 with two RBIs.
The two teams were originally scheduled to play Tuesday in Prineville but the game was called off because of the weather. That led to a rescheduling of the matchup Wednesday with a venue change to Terry Stephenson Field.
Philomath is scheduled to play at home two more times this week with a 4:30 p.m. Friday matchup vs. Crescent Valley and a noon Saturday showdown vs. La Grande.
