For the second time in a week, the HRV Eagles (13-6 overall, 5-1 Columbia River Conference) were pushed into extra innings by their opponent. And for the second time in a week, the Eagles were able to battle back and win the game, but Tuesday’s road win over the Hermiston Bulldogs (8-9 overall, 1-5 CRC) was anything but ordinary.
After Hermiston tied the game up 8-8 in the bottom of the seventh inning to force extra innings, HRV’s offense erupted in the top of the 10th for 11 runs, putting the Bulldogs in the doghouse. Hermiston was able to respond, but the one run wasn’t anywhere near enough to overcome HRV’s outrageous inning, and the Eagles won the game, 19-9.
HRV’s roster has no shortage of talent, to be sure, but HRV’s highest scoring inning in its highest scoring game of the season was sparked by a player whose name you likely haven’t seen in baseball stories this spring: senior Rily Wilson, who according to the stat sheet, hasn’t started in a varsity game once this season.
With bases loaded, Wilson stepped up to the plate for his first at-bat of the game, and promptly cracked a line drive to left field that turned into a three-run double after Skyler Hunter, Kam Walker, and Patrick Harvey were able to score, making it 11-8, HRV.
Wilson’s three-run double ignited what would become a prodigious inning for HRV. With one out on the scoreboard, Dallas Buckley, hits a line drive single to right field, sending Wilson home. Next, a single from Riley Van Hoose brings home Buckley. On the very next play, Chase Lariza triples, sending Van Hoose and Andrew Roberts in. Next play, Hunter hits a single, with Lariza as the scoring runner. Fast forward one out and a couple plays later (including another hit by Wilson, this time a single), Adam Cameron hits a single, bringing Walker home. The very next play, Buckley hits a double to left field, bringing home Harvey and Wilson again to make it 19-8.
Making the 10th inning heroics all the more incredible was what HRV had to do to even get there in the first place. HRV’s contest in Hermiston started out with a brutal 6-0 drubbing at the hands (paws?) of the Bulldogs in the first inning. After a scoreless second inning by both teams, HRV got on the board in the top of the third thanks to a three-run double by Harvey, whose fly ball to center field would help send Lariza, Hunter, and Walker home to make it 6-3, Hermiston.
HRV added another three runs in the fifth inning to knot up the game, 6-6. Kellan Duffy doubled, Cameron singled, and Buckley hit a sacrifice fly, with Walker, Harvey, and Duffy as the scoring runners, respectively.
Pendleton would add another run in the fifth, but HRV was able to even it up after Hermiston’s pitcher beaned Cameron with bases loaded, allowing Lariza to score. HRV got its first lead of the game at the top of the seventh when Roberts scored off a single from Hunter to make it 8-7. The lead didn’t last long, though, as Pendleton scored once in the bottom of the seventh to send it to extra innings.
Overall, the game was a slugfest, producing 32 hits between the two teams (HRV 21, Hermiston 11). The majority of the HRV roster had hits, led by Hunter, Cameron, and Lariza, who were three for six at-bats, all singles, with the exception of Lariza’s triple. Walker also had three hits, but did it in four at-bats. Wilson had the best average of the game (2 for 2, single, double). Buckley led the team in RBI (4) and Walker led in runs scored (4).
In a game with so much offense from both teams, the pitching stats tend to get overshadowed. HRV put three on the mound, with the win going to Walker, who pitched five innings and gave up five hits, two runs, and struck out two batters. Lariza followed up by pitching a little more than four innings, relinquishing three hits, one run, and striking out two. Duffy pitched less than an inning for the Eagles, during which he allowed three hits, six runs, and struck out one.
The win has helped edify HRV’s position at the top of the CRC, which was to be tested by The Dalles on Friday during a road doubleheader (game not played by press time). The Dalles, ranked second in the CRC as of this writing, will next face HRV on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. in Hood River.
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