The Philomath High School baseball team closed out a three-game sweep over Cascade Thursday with a 19-2 victory in a matchup that again saw the Warriors dominate both on the mound and at the plate.
Coach Levi Webber’s outscored the Cougars over the three games, 44-3. After Caleb Babcock’s no-hitter on Monday and Joe Barnes’s 16-strikeout performance on Wednesday, junior Wylie Griffith took to the mound Thursday and kept the momentum going with a complete-game six-hitter with just one walk and seven strikeouts in five innings.
Philomath (16-2 overall, 9-0 Oregon West) scored three runs in the third to break a scoreless tie and then added a dozen runs in the fourth to put the game away. In all, the Warriors had 17 hits with five players finishing with multiple-hit performances. Every starter got on base at least once and scored a run.
Sophomore Jacob Hernandez had a big game by going 3 for 4 with four RBIs. Junior Rocco De La Rosa also had a 3-for-4 performance and scored three runs. Junior Caleb Babcock finished 3 for 5 and drove in four runs. Senior Grant Niemann was 2 for 4 with two doubles, three runs scored and three RBIs. Griffith in the No. 9 spot went 2 for 4 and also scored three times. Senior Joe Barnes hit a triple and had three RBIs.
Freshman RG Majors and senior Wilson Herrera each had two hits for Cascade (6-10, 2-7).
Philomath, which has won 10 straight games, will now go up against Newport, one of the program’s most-intense rivals. Newport (16-3, 9-0) will bring an 11-game winning streak into the series. The Cubs swept Sweet Home this week by scores of 9-0, 5-1 and 7-5.
