Hustlers (comeback kids) stay alive at state tourney

The Hustlers, guided by Coach Pat Clark, will play the Redmond Sunwest Builders (22-12) in an 8 p.m. contest Saturday in Aurora. Redmond won 15-4 over North Marion to advance to the next round. If the Hustlers win Saturday, they’ll advance to Sunday’s 1 p.m. state championship game. A loss to Redmond would end the Hustlers’ season.

“We kind of had a little trouble with our bats and their pitcher did a good job of shutting us down, but they (Mavs) helped us out with their pitching problems at the end of the game,” said Clark. “We forced the action and we got just enough hits (four) to make things happen. I keep telling the guys that they need to have a never-say-die attitude. They were tested and they didn’t give up and so here we are still playing in the tournament.”

The Hustlers struggled offensively, as North Medford outhit them 9-4. North Medford had the early momentum and built a 4-0 lead after three innings. The Hustlers came back with a fourth-inning rally, highlighted by an RBI single from Cooper Klindt (1-for-1, two walks) and an RBI sacrifice groundout by Finley Corbin to narrow the deficit to 4-2.

“It definitely did not look good for us early, but I just tried to stay as cool as I could,” said Clark. “I have to give big kudos to relief pitcher Sam Shaver, who really did a good job.

“Our starting pitcher, Manatu Crichton-Tunai, did well, but they (Mavs) were swinging good at his fastball, so then we thought we would slow things down a little bit. Sam really helped us stabilize the game. Avery Schwartz came in and he threw a good inning at the end, too. It was a team effort, which is something that has been cool all season with a bunch of guys helping us get wins.”

The Mavs extended their lead to 6-2 in the fifth, but the Hustlers came back with a sixth-inning rally. Corbin’s sacrifice RBI groundout, an RBI single by Braden Schwartz (1-for-4, two RBI, walk) and an RBI single by Isaac Anthony (1-for-3) helped trim the margin to 6-5 after six innings.

Hustler relief pitcher Avery Schwartz had a strong performance in the top of the seventh as he helped lead the Hustler defense, which was solid in the final frame in preventing the Mavs from scoring. The Hustlers then capitalized on ineffective Mavs pitching in the bottom of the seventh. The Hustlers loaded the bases as three batters (Klindt, Avery Schwartz, Nolan Donivan) were hit by pitches. Brock then drew a bases-loaded walk, which scored Klindt, tying it 6-6. The next Hustler batter Braden Schwartz also drew a bases-loaded walk, which enabled his younger brother, Avery, to score the game-winning run for the 7-6 win. The Hustlers benefited from eight walks issued by North Medford pitchers.

“I’ll take the win with a bases-loaded walk,” said Clark. “I was hoping that somebody would just smash a ball though, because we need a big hit to provide us with a spark and I still think that it will happen soon. We’re pretty darn excited to come back and play again on Saturday. It’s the first time that I’ve won a game like that as a coach. When you play baseball, sometimes you just have to find different ways to win and that’s what we did.”