Dufur Ranger infielder Connor Uhalde slides safely into third base during 2A/1A state baseball action Wednesday in The Dalles. The No. 1-seeded Rangers slipped past Bandon by an 8-5 margin. Dufur plays Umpqua Valley Christian at 4:30 p.m. on Friday in TD for quarterfinal action.
Dufur Ranger infielder Connor Uhalde slides safely into third base during 2A/1A state baseball action Wednesday in The Dalles. The No. 1-seeded Rangers slipped past Bandon by an 8-5 margin. Dufur plays Umpqua Valley Christian at 4:30 p.m. on Friday in TD for quarterfinal action.
No. 1-seeded Dufur learned a valuable lesson from Wednesday’s 2A/1A state opener against 16th-seeded Bandon – if you take anything for granted, it could come back to bite you.
The Rangers committed four errors, which led to four unearned runs, stranded eight base runners, and the pitchers walked four batters and were called for two balks, but the Blue Mountain Conference champions persevered with three runs apiece in the fifth and sixth innings for an 8-5 playoff victory at Quinton Street Ballpark in The Dalles.
“I feel like this game and everything we went through will help us moving forward,” said senior Kolbe Bales. “It showed us that if we don’t play our best, anyone can compete. It was a good learning lesson and I was proud of the guys for gutting it out. I mean we won a playoff game and that’s a great accomplishment. We are still alive and that’s a great feeling.”
Ahead 2-1 through the first four and a half innings, Dufur created some distance with a three-run fifth to jump ahead, 5-1.
Bandon (14-9 overall) made it 5-3, following two sixth-inning runs, but Dufur took an 8-3 lead after tacking on three runs in the home half of the sixth.
With Bales on the mound in the seventh, the Tigers took advantage of a few Ranger miscues for two runs, however, Bales settled in and recorded the final outs to preserve the win.
Senior hurler Bailey Keever got the starting nod and tossed 5 2/3 innings of four-hit ball with 12 strikeouts and two walks for his eighth win of the year.
Of three runs allowed, one was earned.
“Even with the mistakes, we were able to focus on the next play and do what had to be done to win the game. We need to keep that kind of mentality to help us get through anything,” senior infielder Connor Uhalde said. “Now that we got a game like that out of the way, we can come out in our next game with all the nerves and bugs worked out and play our hardest.”
In all, Dufur totaled 11 hits and received five walks, as every starter reached with at least one hit.
Keever went 2 for 4 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI, Hagen Pence added two hits, a run and an RBI, and Curtis Crawford had a hit and drove in three runs.
Cayton Sinay and Uhalde each had a hit and two runs, with Sinay picking up an RBI and Uhalde walking twice.
Russell Peters tallied a hit and a run, Tabor McLaughlin had a hit and a walk, and Louis Red Cloud went 1 for 4.
For a handful of players, the playoff feel on the diamond was relatively new, which provided an element of pressure behind every pitch, play and at-bat.
“This game was a good first game for the young kids. They all stepped up big and got the job done,” Keever said. “We, as older kids, helped lead them through their nervousness and were able to stay ahead with our consistent hitting throughout the game.”
Dufur (23-1) hosts Umpqua Valley Christian (19-8) in OSAA state quarterfinal action at 4:30 p.m. on Friday at Quinton Street Ballpark.
Friday’s Dufur versus Umpqua winner plays the Monroe and Reedsport winner next Tuesday.
“To beat Umpqua, we are just going to have to come out clean,” Bales said. “We have to limit the amount of errors and just play solid, clean baseball, as well as coming out and hitting the ball. If we do all those things, that will allow us to have success.”
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