Against the 5A Classification’s 14th Ridgeview Ravens, The Dalles baseball team salvaged a doubleheader split with a 15-8 opening win and an 18-8 mercy-rule loss in the nightcap Saturday in a varsity contest played in Redmond.
Coming off a four-game losing skid last week, junior catcher Kellen Mathisen liked the fight his team showed when their backs were against the wall.
“With a rough couple of games prior to last Saturday, getting a win against a good school gave us tremendous confidence,” said Mathisen, who had two hits, scored two runs and drove in two in the two games. “Especially because we were in position to win the second game as well. We know we can beat talented teams, we just have to keep getting better every day until league arrives.”
In the first game, the Riverhawks posted a season-high 17 hits and erased a 3-2 deficit with 13 runs in the final three innings.
Down by one run in the top of the fifth, TD sent nine batters to the plate for five runs on four hits, two walks and a hit batter.
Gordy Harris had an RBI sacrifice fly, Johnny Miller drove in Colton Walker with a run-scoring single and Eli Holeman capped the frame with a bases-clearing single to give the Hawks a 7-3 lead.
The Dalles tacked on three runs in the sixth on three hits to go ahead, 10-3.
Ridgeview (3-5 overall) inched to a 10-7 deficit with four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, but the Hawks answered right back in the seventh with five runs.
Harris led off with a single and Holeman drove him in with an RBI double to make it 11-7 to set things up for Payton Eaton.
The senior slugger rifled a 1-1 offering over the fence for a two-run home run to pad the Riverhawk lead to 13-7.
One out later, Angel Esiquio singled and Boston Bate reached on an error to put two runners on base for Miller, who hit a run-scoring single to bring in Esiquio.
Bate capped the five-run inning by scoring on a base-loaded walk to Colin Noonan.
Eaton went to the mound looking to preserve a TD win and end a four-game losing streak and ran into a two-on, two-out jam, but he struck out Bryce Barker on a 2-2 pitch to seal the win.
Eaton went 4 for 4 with a walk, three runs scored and three RBIs to pace the Riverhawk onslaught.
Holeman added two hits and four RBIs, Harris went 2 for 4 with two runs scored and two RBIs, and Walker picked up two hits in his three at-bats to go with three runs, a walk and an RBI.
Noonan, Kellen Mathisen, Esiquio, Bate and Dawson Hoffman added a hit each. In all, 10 different Riverhawk players had hits and eight players reached on walks.
“In that game, everyone found confidence in swinging the stick and if we all get on a roll, we can become very dangerous by scoring so many runs,” Eaton said. “We just have to maintain it and keep the other team from getting back in games.”
On the mound, Walker scattered six hits, walked one and struck out a season-high 10 batters in his six innings to pick up the win on the mound.
“After losing to some top-ranked teams and then getting back into the groove, it actually really helps and give us a lot of confidence,” Walker said. “With that confidence, it will just keep going into the season. Hopefully our bats stay hot and we just keep adjusting to every pitcher we face in order to keep winning and moving up.”
In the nightcap, The Dalles (3-5) led 6-2 at one point through three and a half innings.
Ridgeview, however, scored seven runs in the fourth inning and in the fifth, tallied nine runs on seven hits to invoke the mercy rule, 18-8.
Things started well for TD in the second game.
With the contest scoreless in the top of the third inning, the Hawks sent 10 batters to the plate and exploded for six runs.
Holeman, Mathisen, Miller, Bate and Harris drove in runs, with Holeman bringing in Noonan and Esiquio on a one-out bases-loaded single.
For the game, TD rapped out nine hits, as Noonan, Bate and Miller had two hits each.
Noonan scored twice, Holeman had two RBIs, and Esiquio reached base on a walk and a hit by pitch and scored a run.
On the mound, Noonan tossed three innings of three-hit ball with a strikeout and four walks for the no-decision.
The junior left with a 6-2 lead, but his relievers allowed 16 runs on 12 hits in the final two innings.
After being held in order for 11 hits in the four losses leading up to Saturday afternoon, the Riverhawks slugged out 23 hits and received nine walks to plate 23 runs.
Eaton feels the offense will be sustainable, but once all of the other facets of the game get the wheels turning, the Riverhawks could be a threat down the road.
“We know we can compete,” Eaton said. “We just have to play with a chip on our shoulder. I’m not worried at all with this team. We can do anything any other team can do.”
The Dalles hosted No. 1 Summit (6-0-1) today. At 4 p.m. Thursday, the Hawks head to Milwaukie to face 5A La Salle Prep (2-3).
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