Dufur Ranger Hayden Clapham (left) makes the tag on Irrigon base stealer Adrian Roa after a throw from catcher Louis Red Cloud (not pictured) in the first inning of Saturday’s league matchup played at Dufur City Park. The Rangers split two games with Irrigon, taking the opener, 13-4. Ray Rodriguez photo
Dufur Ranger Hayden Clapham (left) makes the tag on Irrigon base stealer Adrian Roa after a throw from catcher Louis Red Cloud (not pictured) in the first inning of Saturday’s league matchup played at Dufur City Park. The Rangers split two games with Irrigon, taking the opener, 13-4. Ray Rodriguez photo
Entering play on a streak of six consecutive losses, four by one run, the Dufur Rangers slugged out 10 hits and opened the floodgates with an eight-run first inning in a 13-4 victory of Irrigon Saturday in Blue Mountain Conference baseball action at Dufur City Park.
In that opening frame, the Rangers sent 12 batters to the plate and pounded six hits, five of them going for extra bases, with RBIs coming from Connor Uhalde, Kolbe Bales, Tabor McLaughlin and Tanner Masterson.
Bailey Keever had the first RBI of the frame on an RBI double to left field scoring Uhalde, and the junior capped the eight-run outburst with a two-run single plating Clapham and Uhalde.
Curtis Crawford, Cayton Sinay, Louis Red Cloud and Hayden Clapham each scored runs and Uhalde scored twice in the frame.
“I think it got everybody really motivated when we were hitting the ball,” Clapham said. “I think that’s why we were hitting so good because it was a team effort. We all contributed.”
Irrigon bounced back in the top of the third inning with four runs, two earned, but in the home half, Keever rifled a two-run triple to left field to score Sinay and Red Cloud to move the Dufur lead to 10-4.
The Rangers then tacked on two runs in the fourth and added a single run in the fifth, as Bales drove in Keever with an RBI single to left centerfield.
Keever finished 3 for 3 with a single, a double and a triple, drove in five runs, scored twice and was hit by a pitch.
Bales, in his return from injury, added two hits and two RBIs, and Red Cloud went 2 for 4 with an RBI and two runs scored.
Crawford and McLaughlin had a double, a walk and a run scored each, and the duo of Masterson and Sinay added two runs apiece.
Keever (1-3 record) tossed a complete-game, two-hitter with 11 strikeouts and six walks to pick up his first win of the season.
After the third inning, Keever allowed one Irrigon base runner to advance to third base and he struck out six, stranding three runners.
“He pitched well. Fortunately, we were able to score enough runs to get him a win,” said Dufur head coach C.S. Little. “He has gone out there and done well, but he has been losing a couple of these games, so thankfully, we made enough plays to get him a victory.”
In the second game, Irrigon ace Austin Rice tossed a complete-game, no-hitter to lead his team to a 21-0 mercy-ruled win to get the split. Dufur is now 1-2 in league play, just one game behind Irrigon (7-4 overall, 2-1 league) and Sherman (9-3, 2-1) for the top spot.
Dufur has nine league games still to play to get back into the postseason mix, so there is still hope to find a groove down the stretch.
“We stepped up big today. We need to step up and have that mentality in every game,” Keever said. “If we can step up like we did today, then towards the end of the season, we can surprise some people. We still need to stay sharp and we can’t make the errors. We need to be error-free and we need to hit the ball well. Those are the two things that we have to focus on with the group we’ve got right now.”
Keever is cemented at the top of the pitching rotation, and Uhalde, Clapham and McLaughlin make up the other arms.
Coming off injury, Bales (1.00 earned run average with 16 strikeouts in seven innings) will eventually see additional mound time, so the Rangers still have plenty of punch on the hill.
“Once we get healed up, I think we will be fine,” Little said. “In time, Bales will be back in the mix as far as pitching.
“He got to play first base today and hopefully, we can ease him back into the pitching realm. Where we stand right now, quite honestly, once we get some our pitching back that will make us tougher.”
Dufur (3-9, 1-2) hosts Heppner (1-6) at 4 p.m. in a league matchup today. At 11 a.m. Saturday, the Mustangs host Dufur for a doubleheader.
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