Hood River Valley High School’s Baseball team split its games against La Salle and Lake Oswego on back-to-back days this week. At home on Tuesday, the Eagles scraped past La Salle 6-5, while at Lake Oswego, they lost 6-1.
Tuesday’s outing saw the Eagles playing it patient at the plate as they tallied 11 walks. The hits weren’t numerous for HRV (five total), but they took advantage when they had runners in scoring position, chipping away at the 4-0 lead La Salle established early on. Senior Caden Leiblein led the Eagles, going two-for-four, including a solo homerun in the fifth inning. Sophomore Harrison Howell, senior Michael Hasegawa and junior Juan Luis Jimenez were the only other players to manage a hit, each with one. Wild pitching and sacrifice flies helped the Eagles advance runners and score despite their low hit total, but still the game was tied after seven and the teams headed into extra innings.
Despite giving up a walk to La Salle in the top of the eighth, Hood River managed to hold their opponent scoreless. With their turn at the plate, and a chance to end the game, the Eagles drew three straight walks (the last being intentional) before Leiblein battled through an eight pitch at-bat before drawing a walk to force the winning run home. Howell earned the victory, throwing three innings and allowing zero runs on zero hits, striking out three and walking one.
Fresh off their victory, HRV headed to Lake Oswego for what would quickly dissolve into an offensive struggle for the Eagles. Despite more hits than their previous game (six total), HRV was unable to produce more than one run which came in the fifth inning. Lake Oswego pitching tallied 10 strikeouts on the day while giving up just three walks, a combination that proved too much for Hood River.
Greyson Losee had two hits on the day for the Eagles, while the rest of the team managed four. Hood River also gave up five errors, mistakes that undoubtedly cost them. Lake Oswego did not have a thunderous offense either (six hits), but were simply more efficient with the runners they did have.
Hood River is now 2-1 on the year. They’ll partake in a tournament over spring break and then be back to regular play on April 2, when they host Bend.
Commented