Dufur squanders 7-0 lead in 10-7 loss to Culver

Once he exited the game, Culver’s bats came alive and Bulldog reliever Tadd Anderson retired 12 in a row over the final four frames to help his team storm back from an early 7-0 deficit for a 10-7 comeback in extra innings Wednesday at Kramer Field in The Dalles.

“Isaac pitched a whale of a game, but after we had a big lead, we stopped hitting and then had a bunch of errors that hurt us,” Dufur head coach CS Little said. “Give credit to their pitcher. He figured us out and kept them in the game.”

Dufur relievers Nate O’Brien and Carson Smith were tagged for 10 runs, one earned, on three hits with three walks, four hit batters and six strikeouts.

Culver trailed 7-2 entering the seventh inning and tallied five runs, two coming on a triple, to make it 7-6 with no outs.

Following the big hit, Smith entered as the reliever to try and keep the Bulldogs at bay, and the freshman struck out the first two batters he faced.

The next batter dribbled a grounder to second base, but an off-balanced throw skipped past Anthony at first base, which allowed the tying run to cross the plate safely.

The middle of Dufur’s order went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the seventh inning, so Culver had momentum to complete the comeback in the eighth.

Still facing Smith, the Bulldogs sent six batters to the plate and used two errors, a hit batter, a single, and a sacrifice bunt for a three-run outburst to their first lead of the game, 10-7.

Anderson slammed the door shut with a popup and two strikeouts.

In his four innings of relief, Anderson gave up one hit, hit a batter and fanned six to notch the winning decision.

The first two batters Anderson faced in the fifth, Russell Peters and Louis Red Cloud, reached on a hit by pitch and single, respectively, and both advanced on a double steal to give Dufur runners at second and third with no outs.

But the Culver senior wiggled out the jam with three straight strikeouts.

Offensively, Dufur posted six hits, received four walks, had a batter hit by a pitch and stole six bases on six attempts, but left four runners on base, all in scoring position, and had a runner picked off at first base.

Dufur senior Russell Peters went 1 for 3 with a double, a hit by pitch, a stolen base, a run scored and an RBI.

Gabe Petroff was 1 for 3 with a walk, two stolen bases, two runs and an RBI, Anthony chipped in a hit, a walk, a run and two RBIs, and O’Brien wound up 1 for 3 with a double, a walk, a run scored and an RBI.

Louis Red Cloud and Jacob Peters chipped in a hit and a stolen base apiece, with Red Cloud adding an RBI and Peters scoring a run.

Dufur (0-2 overall) hosts Grant Union for a non-league baseball doubleheader starting at noon on Saturday, April 6.