The Philomath High School baseball team fell into a 6-1 hole in the first inning and couldn’t get much going offensively in a 9-3 loss at Pendleton on Saturday afternoon.
The Warriors (4-4) come home with a split on the trip to the eastern section of the state. The team defeated La Grande by a 10-6 margin on Friday.
Against the Buckaroos (5-6), PHS sophomore Sammy Hernandez led off the game with a single. After stealing second and third, Hernandez scored on a ground out.
As it turned out, that was Philomath’s only hit in the game.
Pendleton junior Nathan Driskell hit a grand slam as part of his team’s six-run outburst in the bottom of the first.
Junior Jacob Hernandez was hit by a pitch and junior CK Kvidt walked to open the second inning. Both runners moved up a base on a wild pitch and later came around to score to cut the deficit to 6-3.
Pendleton shifted into high gear in the innings that remained, with the Warriors’ only base runners coming on an error, hit by pitch and a pair of walks.
On the mound for PHS, senior Wylie Griffith started and went four innings, allowing 10 hits, eight runs and one walk. Junior AJ Altishin threw the last two frames and allowed one hit and no earned runs with three walks and four strikeouts.
Pendleton senior Colin Harrington threw five innings and allowed one hit, three runs and three walks with nine strikeouts. Junior Keli Spencer went the last two innings and allowed no hits or runs with two walks and two strikeouts.
Philomath is scheduled to host West Albany at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Pendleton 9, Philomath 3
Saturday, April 4, at Pendleton
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E Philomath (4-4) 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 3 Pendleton (5-6) 6 0 0 2 0 1 x 9 11 2
Griffith, Altishin (5) and Herbert; Harrington, Spencer (6) and McQuinn. W — Harrington. L — Griffith. 2B — Furstenberg. HR — Driskell.