Another successful doubleheader was had by the HRV baseball team this weekend, who took down the Pendleton Buckaroos 12-9 in the first game and 4-2 in the second on the road Saturday thanks to standout performances by the Eagles’ go-to guys, as well as athletes whose names don’t often appear at the top of the stat sheets.
The doubleheader sweep of Pendleton gave HRV sole possession of the top spot in the Columbia River Conference — all the more important considering how tight the league is, with half the CRC schedule remaining. After last weekend, HRV sat at 4-1, The Dalles at 3-2, Pendleton at 2-3, and Hermiston at 1-4 in the conference, with seven games to go.
HRV hosted Pendleton late Tuesday afternoon (results unavailable at press time) then travel to The Dalles for a doubleheader Friday that starts at 5 p.m. Harjo said his team needed to be prepping particularly hard for what is shaping up to be a hungry Riverhawks team this season.
“We keep looking at what The Dalles is doing. They’re surprising a lot of people,” Harjo noted.
HRV 12 at Pendleton 9
The Eagles’ bats were hot as the team put up 15 hits — a fifth of which were home runs — in the first game against Pendleton. The hit parade was sparked by Trenton Hough’s bomb to left field in HRV’s first at bat of the third inning, scoring the first run for the Eagles. Hough finished the night 3-for-4, adding two singles, and had the only stolen base of the game for HRV.
“Man, he just went off for us. He’s a guy who’s got a couple opportunities this year, didn’t necessarily have the greatest showing… it’s been frustrating for him and frustrating for us,” HRV Head Coach Erich Harjo said of the junior utility player. “He’s got the right tools and right mentality; it was really nice to see him benefit from all that hard work. It was a really good performance and he surprised a lot of people, including Pendleton.”
Not surprising was Caden Leiblein’s performance at the plate, who has led the team in RBI’s this season, and got six of them in the game, which came off not one, but two homers, as well as two singles.
“He’s been really consistent all year long,” Harjo noted. “He makes really good adjustments as a hitter too.”
The Eagles kept wailing on Pendleton from the plate, as Connor Coerper flummoxed the Bucks’ batters with another great game on the mound, giving up just four hits and walking three in six innings, while striking out seven. With a 12-2 lead in the seventh, and the need to manage Coerper’s pitch count, Harjo brought in Hough to close out the game. With two outs and Pendleton seemingly on the ropes, the Bucks suddenly started stringing together hit after hit, going on a seven-run tear to pull within three. Isaiah Enriquez was brought in to settle things down, and struck out Pendleton’s last man to earn the save.
Harjo said the game’s conclusion was eerily similar to HRV’s defensive breakdown against Hermiston the previous week, when the Bulldogs shaved HRV’s 13-1 lead heading into the fifth down to 14-10 by the end of the game.
“It was great for six innings. It’s kind of like déjà vu,” he said.
Leiblein and Hough weren’t the only Eagles who had busy nights at the plate. Casey Ward (2-for-5, single, double), Adam Cameron (1-for-4, single), Coerper (2-for-4, single, double, RBI), and Enriquez (3-for-5, single, doubles, four RBIs) all contributed to the HRV hit parade.
HRV 4 at Pendleton 2
Neither team could match the offensive productivity of the first contest, with the Bucks and the Eagles combining for about half the number of hits they generated earlier Saturday afternoon.
“A game like that can take a lot out of you both mentally and physically,” Harjo noted.
The Eagles did score early though, capitalizing on a poor start on the mound by Pendleton that resulted in a bases-loaded walk of Leiblein (RBI) that scored Morgan Williams. The Bucks answered in the bottom of the second after a walk and error helped put runners on bags, finished off with an RBI single on a line drive to left to make it 1-1.
The Bucks didn’t hold onto the tie for long, as it became HRV’s turn to make hay out of Pendleton miscues. Williams moved around the bases thanks to a pair of errors by the Bucks, and Cameron (1-for-2, single, RBI, stolen base) sent Williams home with a line drive single to left to reclaim the lead. The horse race continued in the bottom of the third, when Pendleton tied it up again on a line drive single to center after hitting a double earlier in the inning.
Both teams continued to connect at the plate, but stranded runners on bases until Hough (2-for-3, singles, RBI) came through in the top of the sixth, singling on a line drive to center that scored Ward (1-for-4, single, stolen base) for what would prove to be the game-winner. Hough then scored the insurance run thanks to a line drive single to left hit by Enriquez (1-for-3, single, RBI). Jacob Smith also singled in one of his three at bats.
“He really impressed us, which will probably lead to some more time for him,” Harjo said of Hough’s two-game performance.
Enriquez also did a good job on the rubber, striking out nine and allowing six hits, an earned run, and a walk. Greyson Losee was brought in as a relief and earned the save in his inning, striking out two and giving up a hit.
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