MORO – Ace pitcher Brett Troutman and the Sherman Huskies were two outs away from sealing a comeback win and moving a step closer to winning the Blue Mountain Conference.
But in the top of the seventh inning, a bad bounce single, followed by another single and a bases-clearing double by Austin Rice turned the tide in Irrigon’s favor.
Rice’s late heroics, and 2 1/3 innings of shutout relief by Hayden White gave the No. 7 Knights a 3-2 victory over the No. 8 Huskies in a league baseball game played Tuesday in Moro.
Rice allowed two runs, one earned, on three hits with nine strikeouts and two walks in his 4 2/3 innings of work.
Troutman matched Rice pitch-for-pitch in his complete-game effort, allowing three earned runs on six hits.
After a first-inning run, Troutman held Irrigon scoreless on two hits from the second-through-sixth innings, retiring as many as six in a row at one point.
He stranded seven Irrigon base runners overall.
“Brett does a great job out there,” said Sherman third baseman Trey Homer. “Every Tuesday he comes out and pitches great games and we don’t have to worry about bringing in a reliever. He will take control on the mound, throw any pitch that he wants, with the control and command that he wants, and beat any opponent we have. Tonight, they just managed to find a few pitches they liked and put it in play.”
Irrigon had a one-run lead through a half an inning, and Rice escaped a first inning jam with three consecutive strikeouts, as he fanned seven batters in the first three frames.
Sherman evened the score at 1-apiece in the fourth on an RBI sacrifice fly by Treve Martin to score Maverick Winslow, who led off with an infield single and advanced to second on an error.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Homer struck out, but was safe at first base on a wild pitch and advanced to second on a ground out.
Wyatt Stutzman reached on a bunt single, but Rice tried to make a play on Homer at third base, but the throw flew wide into short left field, allowing Homer to score without a throw to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead.
Later in the fifth, the Huskies had runners on first and second with one out, but Rice struck out the last batter he faced, and then with Winslow at the plate and White on the mound, Stutzman was thrown out at third base on a steal attempt.
Sherman left two more runners stranded in the sixth, had a runner thrown out at second base on a steal in the seventh, but still had Stutzman at second base representing the tying run with two outs.
White retired the final batter on a flyout to right, on a full count pitch, to end the game.
“It is bitter, very bitter. But, at the same time, it is one of those things where there are certain things that happen during a game that you can’t control,” Stutzman said. “There are some things that we could control and that’s what we will be focusing on next time. I think we have a very good chance of coming back on Friday and beating them.”
Winslow had a hit and scored a run, Stutzman went 1 for 2 with a walk and an RBI, Homer scored a run, and Martin went 1 for 3 with an RBI to lead the Huskies’ four-hit attack.
Even with the loss, No. 8 Sherman needs a road sweep on Friday in Irrigon to claim the Blue Mountain Conference title, and a No. 1 seed heading into district action.
Sherman head coach Joe Justesen said he was proud of his team, but now the main focus is on coming back ready to battle tough for two road wins against Irrigon.
“It has got to be all nine of us,” Justesen said. “Today, we scratched and clawed and it was one-through-nine again, putting ourselves in position, but for some reason, we couldn’t get that big hit or big play. We were in position to win, so I am happy. We did a good job today against a very good team. They are solid for the most part. We just got to finish.”
Doubleheader action starts at 11 a.m. Friday.
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