Swift Dufur baseball team making the best of its on-base prowess

The run-first Rangers were 5-1 heading into their May 4 contest against rival Sherman (4-3, 2-1 District 7) after suffering their first loss, 3-0, Saturday at home against Weston-McEwen. The Rangers bounced back in the second game (the non-leaguer) of the double-header by a football-like 34-11 score.

That result was more in line with this year’s Ranger offense, which is averaging more than 15 runs a game. The 4-0 start included doubleheader sweeps of Riverside and Lyle. Dufur’s season started late because of COVID, but Coach CS Little’s team made up for lost time in a hurry with a 20-1 and 17-10 sweep of Riverside on April 23, followed by a 13-0 and 12-1 sweep of Lyle on April 27.

In the second game against Lyle, three Dufur pitchers combined on a no-hitter, recording 14 strikeouts of the 18 Lyle outs. Elijah Thomas, Brock LaFaver and Henry Begay kept Lyle hitters off balance the entire six-inning game. Jason Peters and Begay both had two hits for Dufur; Begay and Gabe Petroff knocked in three runs apiece. The Rangers took advantage of their team speed, stealing 13 bases in as many attempts.

Against Riverside, Dufur’s 15-hit attack was led by LaFaver with three; he also had five RBI. Elijah Roden, Petroff and Kaleb Pence added two apiece. In game two, Petroff was 4-for-6 and knocked in three runs, and Josh Taylor and Roden homered — Taylor’s was a grand slam. The Rangers led 12-2 before Riverside made things interesting with a six-run fifth inning. Dufur scored five times in the seventh to put the game well out of reach.

Sherman lost its first league game Saturday, 3-1, at Heppner, and continues to keep pace with Dufur. The Huskies also lost the non-league game of the double-header, 10-5. The May 4 Sherman-Dufur double-header begins at 2 p.m. in Dufur.