Top-ranked Eagles embark on NWOC baseball season

HOOD RIVER — Two quality Class 5A wins followed by a slugfest with a 6A school last week have the Hood River Valley (HRV) baseball team ranked first right before the Northwest Oregon Conference (NWOC) season began on April 14.

Coach Max Reitz acknowledged the three wins were nice, but the lofty ranking won’t hold much credence if the 7-3 Eagles can’t follow through in league play.

“I loved how our guys competed against two high level programs in the state,” Reitz said. “Both games were tight and hard fought, and we executed when we needed to. Those wins should really help us prepare for the tough, close games that you expect to play in the NWOC as conference season approaches.”

Up first in conference action April 14-15 is a two-game, away-home series against winless Parkrose, and then a Friday home test against Putnam (4-6). 

Last week’s two-game, home stand included a 3-2 win over visiting Corvallis and a 3-0 victory over Summit. Pitchers Bodie Stuben and Trevor Jacobs combined for 12 strikeouts against Corvallis, which managed four hits. Hood River struck first with two runs in the first inning and won the game with a single run in the bottom of the sixth.

Jacobs earned the pitching win and aided his cause with two hits and an RBI. Davin Snyder, Kingston McAdam (double), Stuben, and Elliott Dillingham also had hits for the Eagles.

The win over Summit, a perennial state playoff team, was highlighted by Landen Pratt’s five-hit, nine-strikeout complete game. Two-thirds of Pratt’s pitches were strikes and he received an error-less game behind him in the field. Offensively, McAdam hit a solo home run, Snyder had a double and Maverick Hockett added hits — but it was Pratt who led the way by going 2-for-3 at the plate.

Pratt also had two hits in the Eagles’ come-from-behind victory on April 10 at Ida B. Wells in Portland. HRV needed each of its 10 hits in that game, especially after falling behind 7-2 after four innings. All seven of the host team’s runs were unearned (four Eagle errors), which didn’t sit well with Reitz.

“Coming off the last three wins at home, which all had a playoff baseball atmosphere, I was a little worried about a letdown in this game,” Reitz said. “And we definitely didn’t play as well as I would have liked. But I was proud of our group’s ability to battle and do the work needed to come back on the road. It was a great comeback win.”

The comeback started in the top of the fifth inning when Hood River scored five runs to tie the game. HRV pulled away by adding two more runs in the sixth and three more insurance tallies in the seventh. Pratt’s two hits were matched by the pair from both McAdam and Dillingham, while Snyder, Tyson Harjo, Jacobs, and Nick Tuttle also had hits.

A bigger role in the win came via reliever Harjo’s right arm. He took over for Jacobs with two out in the fourth inning and threw hitless baseball the rest of the game. Reitz said: “Tyson Harjo really did a great job of coming in and shutting Wells down.”

Equally as important was aggressive HRV’s penchant to put pressure on Ida B. Wells by swiping a season high 10 bases. When the Eagles got runners in position to score, they brought them home, leaving only three on base (to the host’s seven) and garnering an RBI from eight different players.