The Hattenhauer Distributing Columbia Gorge Hustlers baseball team is on a roll and they’re gaining momentum toward their goal of winning a championship at the American Legion state tournament in two weeks.
As of Friday, the Hustlers had won 11 straight to improve to 23-2. After playing seven games in six days, including five home contests, the team took time off to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday.
The Hustlers, guided by Coach Pat Clark, started last week with a doubleheader sweep in a pair of five-inning games - 16-0 and 13-0 - over the Eastside Cutters of Portland June 28 at home. They followed with an 18-0 road win over Roosevelt June 29 at McDaniel High School in Portland. Will Booth hit a third inning, two-run homer - his first home run this season.
“We’re playing well. And we knew with the schedule that we had that these games would be against teams that are at the bottom of our league standings, so we knew that it would be like this and we just kind of used it as a tuneup for the game with Yakima,” said Clark. “We need games that present us with more of a challenge. We were put in the league that we’re in so it’s kind of what we have to do.
Booth said: “We knew coming in here that this would be kind of an easy win because we played them earlier and it was pretty similar to this (a 10-0 win, June 22 at home). It’s been a great season; we’re really having lots of fun and we’ve actually only lost one game. The second game we lost was to a Yakima Beetles alumni team that had mostly college players, so we don’t consider that as part of our record.”
The Hustlers won a doubleheader over the Yakima Beetles, 7-0 and 7-6, June 30 at Quinton Street Ballpark in The Dalles, followed by a come-from-behind 9-7 home win over Gorge Baseball of White Salmon on July 1.
In the first contest, the pitching duo of Riley Brock and Braden Schwartz combined to toss a one-hitter with 12 strikeouts to help lead the Hustlers over the Beetles. Booth (1-for-3), Cameron Groves (1-for-3), Nathan Hedges (1-for-3) and Cooper Klindt (1-for-2) each drove in runs to help power the Hustlers’ 10-hit offense. It marked the sixth shutout of the season for the Hustlers.
In game two, Hustler starting pitcher Isaac Anthony had a strong performance with 12 strikeouts and five hits allowed in five innings. In Game 2, the Beetles outhit the Hustlers, 9-6, and they came back from a 6-2 deficit to knot the score 6-6 in the seventh to force extra innings. The Hustlers scored a run in the eighth to pull out the victory.
Klindt, Braden Schwartz (1-for-3), Brock (1-for-3) and Nathan Hedges (2-for-5) each had RBIs to help lead the Hustler offense. Relievers Henry Begay and Avery Schwartz combined for four strikeouts and four hits allowed to help the Hustlers hang on and get the win.
On Friday versus Gorge Baseball, the Hustlers overcame a 7-0 fourth inning deficit. Aided by one error, the Hustlers sent nine batters to the plate and scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth to trim the margin to 7-4.
After getting a run in the fifth to make it 7-5, the Hustlers gained the upper hand in the sixth. An RBI double by Sterling Coburn (1-for-3) drove home shortstop Schwartz (2-for-3), who earlier hit a leadoff single. An RBI single by 2022 Hood River Valley High graduate Hunter Hough drove home Coburn, tying it 7-7. Hough was playing in just his third game after recovering from an injury he sustained in May during the Eagles’ OSAA Class 5A baseball season.
“We’ve come back from deficits in games before, but after it got to the fourth inning and we trailed 7-0, I was starting to feel a little nervous, but then we came through at the end,” said Schwartz, an incoming The Dalles High sophomore. “I’m having a lot of fun playing summer league baseball. I like pitching, which is my favorite position, but I enjoy playing shortstop, second base and in the outfield, so I kind play everywhere out on the field. We had a close game with Yakima, and they came back and then the game went into extra innings, so that was a really fun game. I’m excited about the upcoming playoffs, too.”
Sam Shaver’s RBI single proved to be the winning run for the Hustlers.
Gorge Baseball’s Kai Brasuell (2-for-2) hit a leadoff single and then stole second and third base to get into scoring position to give his team a chance. Gorge Baseball had batters representing the tying run at the plate three times but couldn’t come up with a game-tying hit. Relief pitcher Hough struck out two-of-three batters to help the Hustlers hold on for the victory.
“That game (versus Gorge Baseball) was a little bit stressful,” said Clark. “We had two great games with Yakima the day before and we expended a lot of energy, and it was very emotional for everyone. We wanted to rest some of the regular players that usually start, so we had a lot of guys playing today that don’t normally get lots of playing time. We expected this to be a little different than our usual games because of the different lineup that we had out there. I told them after the third inning that they’re capable of playing better than what they showed.
“You’re going to get down in baseball sometimes and you’re not always going to be up by 10. I challenged them to figure out a way to come back and that’s exactly what they did.”
The Hustlers next contest is Wednesday at 6 p.m. versus Centennial at Gresham High School, followed by a July 10 noon game at Tigard. The Hustlers’ next home game is July 13 versus Alpenrose at 5 p.m. The American Legion state playoffs are July 20-24 at North Marion High School in Aurora.
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