One win plus some help equals home playoff game.
That was the math the HRV baseball team was left with after the Hermiston Bulldogs swept them aside in a doubleheader in Hermiston Saturday.
The Eagles lost 10-0, 9-5 to the Bulldogs, a bitterly disappointing outcome after they had made the trip east hoping for the sweep - or at worst a split and a chance leave the race for second place in the Columbia River Conference wide open.
"It was really frustrating," HRV coach Erich Harjo said. "You could see it on the guys' faces."
Parker Sherrell allowed only two earned runs in the first game of the doubleheader, but neither the Eagle defense nor offense could back him up.
HRV committed seven errors, and either had two men on or the bases loaded in three innings but could not get a run home against Hermiston's Tim Rudy.
"We just didn't play defense," Harjo said.
In the second game, the Eagles dug themselves into a 6-0 hole before they began to climb back.
They closed to within 6-4 in the fifth on a triple by Kyle Beam and a double by Eric McNerney. However, Hermiston was able to put two runs on the board in the bottom of the inning to again put some distance between the teams.
The Eagles were scheduled to host Hermiston Tuesday, and needed a win to split the season series with Hermiston and keep their hopes alive for second place in the league. Even if they were to win they would still need Pendleton to sweep the Bulldogs in their series starting this weekend, and then win four straight themselves against The Dalles-Wahtonka.
"I'm not going to give them a chance to breathe today," Harjo said Monday. "They are not going to get a chance to feel like they are getting a break."
Across town, the HRV softball team was in a better position after returning from Hermiston with a doubleheader split and remaining tied for first place in the Columbia River Conference.
The Eagles lost the first game 6-0 as they could not get their offense going against Hermiston's Megann Galloway-Cooley.
The Eagles broke through against the Hermiston ace in the second game. The Eagles scored six runs in the seventh inning and then held on in the bottom half to win 9-7.
"We just had to exchange outs for runs," HRV coach Eric Keller said of the Eagles allowing four runs in the seventh but leaving the tying runs stranded on base.
Hannah Williams had three RBI on a single and a double, Amanda McCafferty went 3 for 4 and Katie Wood went 2 for 5 with a bases-loaded double in the seventh to bring in three runs.
The split left the Eagles with a chance to control their own destiny with a win Tuesday.
The Horizon Hawks got in one last non-league tune-up before they started their league home stretch with a key game against Dufur Tuesday.
The Hawks pounded Lyle in three games, including putting up a combined 34 runs in 10 innings of doubleheader play Saturday.
On Wednesday the Hawks overcame an early deficit to win 17-11 on the strength of three hits each from Cody Bott and Mitch Engel.
On Saturday Horizon opened with a 14-1 win over Lyle backed by a strong pitching performance from Mitch Engel.
Engel, Tanner Petitt and Bott hit home runs, with Engel and Petitt going back-to-back in the third inning.
Petitt, Bott and Engel again combined to do the bulk of the scoring in the second game, driving in 14 runs in a 20-9 win.
The Hawks were set to host Dufur at 4:30 Tuesday.
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