Despite losing four straight games last week, The Dalles High Riverhawks baseball team concluded the Intermountain Conference regular season schedule by finishing in fourth place out of the six-team league.
The Riverhawks (3-7 IMC, 3-12 overall), the youngest team in the league with no seniors and 10 freshmen, were scheduled to play the No. 5 seed Ridgeview Ravens (2-8 IMC, 2-13) in Monday’s quarterfinals at Quinton Street Ballpark in The Dalles (results came after the printed edition deadline). Monday’s winner advances to play at 4 p.m. today (Wednesday) at Pendleton.
Ridgeview had an 11-game losing streak, which started when The Dalles beat the Ravens 12-2 at home April 24. The Dalles also beat Ridgeview 13-8 in Redmond on April 20. Coach Steve Sugg said The Dalles isn’t looking past Ridgeview, but at the same time is anticipating a game in the semifinals against the defending (2019) league champion and top-seeded Pendleton (9-0 IMC, 11-3). Wednesday’s winner advances to play in the May 22 championship game at the site of the higher seeded team.
“In baseball, anything can happen and so you never really know, and we’ll see what we can do against Pendleton,” said Sugg.
The Riverhawks began last week when they lost 16-0 at home May 11 to the Hood River Valley Eagles (8-2 IMC, 11-4). In that contest, HRV junior Mason Spellecy threw a no-hitter, with 11 strikeouts and three walks in a six-inning contest that was shortened due to the 10-run Mercy Rule.
“They’re (Hood River) a good ball club and they’ll probably play for the IMC championship and it will be a very good game,” said Sugg. “It’s nice that we’re going to have a home game Monday (May 17) in the district playoffs.”
In a May 12 home game against the Redmond Panthers (6-4 IMC, 7-7), the Riverhawks built a 9-2 lead and were on the verge of getting a win going into the seventh inning. Redmond scored eight runs in the final frame, however, for a 17-10 victory.
“We ran into a pitch count problem,” said Sugg. “Riley and Braden couldn’t throw anymore because they were both at their pitch count limit. We had to go deep into our lineup and have a couple of young kids (sophomore Diego Gonzalez, junior William Hoover) pitch and they struggled a little bit. We played good though and we swung the bats well and we came back and got 12 hits after the no-hitter against Hood River the day before. It was nice seeing a good seven-run third inning. We have a young club and so this is all part of the learning process, so we just continue playing baseball for as long as we can in the district playoffs.”
Following a 1-1 first inning deadlock, The Dalles added a run in the second on an RBI single by sophomore Riley Brock (3-for-4, two singles, double, three RBI), driving home freshman Cooper Klindt (1-for-3, single, RBI), who earlier singled and The Dalles was up 2-1. The Riverhawk offense shifted into high gear in the third inning as Brock, sophomore Braden Schwartz (2-for-4, single, triple, RBI) and junior Austin Agidius (1-for-4, double, RBI) each drove in runs in a seven-run rally, putting The Dalles up 9-2.
Redmond responded by scoring six runs, trimming the margin to 9-8, in the top of the fifth inning. The Panthers might have scored more, but The Dalles had a defensive highlight with a double play to help slow Redmond’s offense. Agidius made a spectacular catch, while falling backward to grab a fly ball to deep right field. He then regained his footing and threw the ball to shortstop Brock who tagged a Redmond baserunner out at second base for the momentum building defensive gem.
“After I caught it, I saw a Redmond baserunner going to third and I wondered why he was doing that, but he probably thought I dropped the ball,” said Agidius. “I was backpedaling, and I was just hoping that I wouldn’t drop it. It was the best defensive play that I’ve made this year for sure, and it was nice getting the double play, too.
“I wish we would’ve stayed in front in the seventh to get the win. I felt pretty good at that point because all we needed were three outs. They (Redmond) just came out of nowhere and started hitting the ball well. We kind of choked a little bit at the end with some errors that we made. Our team morale kind of went down, too, at that point. We’ll come back and win Monday in the district playoffs against Ridgeview.”
The Hawks concluded the regular season May 14 with a doubleheader on the road against area rival Hood River. The Riverhawk offense (three total hits) sputtered in Game 1 and they fell behind 7-0 after four innings. Following a scoreless fifth, The Dalles avoided a shutout and scored a run on a Schwartz RBI single, driving home freshman Sam Shaver, who earlier reached base on a walk. The Eagles were able to capitalize on the Hawks’ four fielding errors.
“We’ll beat Ridgeview,” said a confident sounding Brock following Friday’s doubleheader at Hood River. “We didn’t hit the ball too well in the first game. In the second game, we were hitting a little better, but the ball just didn’t fall into any gaps. They (Hood River) played good defense and they only had one error and we had quite a few costly errors (four total) that hurt us. I’m just glad that we are able to come out here and play baseball this year.”
(Of note: Brock has a rich history of successful baseball players in his family. His great-uncle, Ken Dayley, played Major League Baseball for the Atlanta Braves (1982-84), St. Louis Cardinals (1984-90) and Toronto Blue Jays (1991-93). Dayley played on The Dalles High baseball team in the 1970s and then after a college baseball career at the University of Portland, he began his pro career in 1980.)
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