After flying out to left field for the first out in the third inning Wednesday against Sweet Home, Warriors junior Caleb Babcock trotted toward the dugout, shrugged his shoulders and said to teammates, “It had to end some time.”
Philomath was up 10-0 at that moment and on their way to a 19-4 rout over the visiting Huskies. Starting pitcher Joe Barnes struck out the first seven batters he faced and took a no-hitter into the fourth inning. And the Warriors had a lively lineup with a dozen hits to improve to 2-0 in conference play.
Babcock’s comment was a reference to his recent fortune at the plate. After going 3 for 3 in Monday’s 25-1 series-opening win at Sweet Home, he connected on back-to-back singles over the first two innings of the game.
“I’ve been hitting a little better than I have been this regular season,” Babcock said about the past few games. “I guess once you get a hit, the confidence goes up.”
Philomath (8-2-1 overall) plays at Sweet Home Thursday to wrap up the three-game set.
Babcock’s bat had been quiet during the nonconference portion of the schedule with a .259 batting average entering this week. After these past two outings, the average ballooned to .371.
PHS coach Levi Webber said Babcock “put in a ton of work in the offseason” and came out with a good performance at the plate in the season opener but noticed he was off a little on the team’s trip to Newport for a two-day tournament.
“I think he was pressing a little bit and trying to do too much and got outside of himself,” Webber said.
Indeed, Babcock went 1 for 8 in the Newport tournament.
“I didn’t really have a slump — it was just that the balls weren’t falling,” Babcock said. “I was hitting fine — it was just a little bit of a mechanics issue.”
With poor weather this spring, the team has been getting in a lot of time in the batting cages.
“One of the things we’ve focused on as a team is just making sure we stay in the middle of the field and try not to get pull happy,” Webber said. “He’s done a really good job of that over the last week, week and a half, and is buying into that and using the whole field.”
Babcock has been putting in the time to try to find his swing.
“I usually come in before school and especially when I was in a little bit of a slump, I was in the cages working for hours,” Babcock said. “I changed my stance a little bit but really it’s just confidence.”
One benefit for the team in recent days has been better weather, which means outside batting practice.
“I think our guys got a little bit more comfortable just seeing the ball outside,” Webber said. “There’s a lot to being outside and seeing the ball come off the bat and seeing what it does as you hit and going the other way and understanding how that ball does play.”
Barnes was on the mark and Sweet Home’s batters struggled. By the time he exited after the fourth inning, Barnes had allowed three hits and no walks with nine strikeouts. He faced 15 batters and 42 of the 54 pitches he threw were for strikes.
“Joe was really good and Caleb was really good on Monday so our pitching has been there all season,” Webber said. “Now that the weather’s turned a little bit, hopefully the offense has started to catch up and we’ll start to score some runs consistently.”
In 20-2/3 innings this season — three starts and two relief appearances — Barnes has a 3.05 earned run average with 35 strikeouts and 11 walks.
Besides Babcock, Philomath got a 3-for-3 effort from junior third baseman Rocco De La Rosa, which included a double. Senior Brady Russell had a 2-for-2 game with two doubles and three RBIs. Senior Grant Niemann, who has the team’s top batting average at .414, went 2 for 4. By the way, Babcock had a double among his three hits and drove in three runs.
Asked if there are any issues of focus in such lopsided games, Babcock said, “I mean, it’s just a barrel party so it’s easy to get overconfident,” Babcock said.
Philomath outscored Sweet Home 44-5 over the first two games of the series.
“I’m proud of the way that we’re competing and making sure that we’re playing and competing to our standards and playing the game the right way,” Webber said. “I think we’re playing really hard and pitching really well.”
After Philomath wraps up the Sweet Home series, the Warriors will make up a nonleague game against Junction City at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. Next week, the team will play a three-game set against Stayton with home games on April 21 and April 24.
