Before HRV’s baseball game on Monday, April 2 versus Tualatin, head coach Erich Harjo was “really excited” to see how his team was going to respond after going 0-4 during the team’s trip to Arizona last week.
What a way to respond.
Fast-forward to the bottom of the seventh with Tualatin up 3-1.
After back-to-back walks for the Eagles in the home half of the seventh, HRV had two baserunners on with zero outs, threatening to find a way back into this game and end a four-game losing streak.
What followed the walk, however, were consecutive outs for HRV, and now the Eagles were looking at their last hope of a comeback with Connor Coerper walking up to the plate with two baserunners on and two outs.
Coerper quickly went down in the count 1-2 after three pitches, and it seemed this game was coming to an end.
But in the next pitch of the at-bat, Coerper connected his barrel to the ball and sent a shot into the trees over the right field fence for a walk-off three-run homerun in the bottom of the seventh to pick up the 4-3 win, snapping the Eagles’ four game losing streak.
Harrison Howell received the win on the mound for the Eagles.
Howell went one inning, allowing zero runs on one hit, striking out one and walking zero. Greyson Losee threw one inning in relief out of the bullpen.
Coerper led the way for the Eagles offensively, going 3-2 with a homerun and three RBIs.
Michael Hasegawa, Ryan Gray and Trenton Hough each had one of the Eagles’ five combined hits on the day.
After winning in dramatic fashion versus Tualatin, the Eagles were back home on Wednesday, April 4 versus Bend.
HRV allowed two runs right out the gate, but would hold the Lava Bears scoreless the rest of the game. The Eagles had no problem driving in runs thanks to Brandon Smiley’s huge day at the plate.
Smiley drove in five runs on doubles in the second and fourth to lead HRV past Bend by a final score of 14-2; the Eagles are currently on a two-game winning streak after their four-game losing streak in Arizona.
The Eagles got the most out of Smiley’s performance on Wednesday, but six other players would account for the other nine RBIs to balance out what was a dominate offensive performance for HRV: Hough (2); Gray (2); Losee (2); Caden Leiblein (1); JJ Mears (1); and Isaac Beaman (1).
The Eagles scored three, five and six runs in three innings against Bend, with the six-run inning coming in the bottom of the second.
The offensive onslaught was led by Hough, Smiley and Losee, all sending runners across home plate with RBIs in the second.
Losee earned the win on the mound for HRV. He allowed four hits and two runs over five innings, striking out six and walking one.
Leaders in hits for HRV: Smiley (2); Beaman (2); Mears (1); Losee (1); Gray (1); Coerper (1); and Hough (1).
The Eagles will have a little over a week to prepare for league competition which starts on Saturday, April 14 in Hermiston with a double-header.
Then on Tuesday, April 17, the boys will be back home for a matchup with the Bulldogs.
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