Riding a 24-game winning streak, the No. 2-ranked Knappa Loggers had a full head of steam entering their OSAA/U.S. Bank/Les Schwab Tires State Baseball playoff game, entering play with an average margin of victory of 14-2.
Friday in Astoria, the Loggers caught some major breaks, as two Dufur miscues opened the door for a three-run fifth inning to break open a 3-all tie in a 6-4 quarterfinal win at Astoria High School.
“I really think that errors played a huge factor on tonight’s loss,” said Dufur sophomore Bailey Keever. “Knappa was a good solid team, but definitely not unbeatable and I feel like errors really turned this game around.”
After Dufur had evened the game at 3-3 on an RBI groundout by Trever Tibbets to score Curtis Crawford in the top of the fifth inning, the Loggers answered back in the home half.
Jason Miller led off with a walk, and then Andy Miller bounced into what should have been a double play.
However, the middle infielders flubbed the exchange and both Miller’s on base.
Justin Dragoo plated Jason Miller with an RBI double to right field to move Knappa ahead by a 4-3 margin with no outs and runners on second and third base for Noah Kinney.
Kinney worked a walk off Dufur reliever Bryson Caldwell to load the bases.
The next batter, Nathan Truax, then hit a flyball to right field, but the ball was misplayed and both Andy Miller and Dragoo scored to give the Loggers a 6-3 lead.
Caldwell eventually escaped the jam and retired the side to keep the Ranger deficit at three runs.
Knappa left-hander Chase Rusinovich toed the mound for the top of the sixth inning and ran into some trouble early on.
Kolbe Bales led off with a walk, and Nick Little followed with a single to put two runners on base.
One out later, Brent Sumner was issued a walk to load the bases for Curtis Crawford.
The Ranger freshman drove in Little with an RBI fielder’s choice to inch the Rangers to a 6-4 deficit with runners on the corners for Connor Uhalde.
Rusinovich retired Uhalde on a flyball to centerfield to end the Dufur threat.
“It was a great effort and we rallied back to pick up a run in the sixth and we never gave up, but just came up short,” Keever said.
With the Loggers ahead 6-4 in the top of the seventh inning and the middle of the Ranger order coming up, Knappa coach Jeff Miller opted for relief pitcher Tyson Burnard.
Caldwell got things started for the Rangers with a single to center field.
Burnard struck out the next two Dufur batters he faced, and then induced a game-ending groundout to preserve the Logger’s 25th consecutive win.
In all, Dufur had five hits, received five walks and had two batters hit by a pitch, but stranded six base runners, four in the final three innings.
“What inspires me is all of my teammates coming together and playing hard,” said senior catcher Jake Kortge. “Knappa played well, we had our chance to win, and just came up a little short.”
Tibbets got the start on the mound for the Rangers, and the senior allowed three runs with a strikeout and a walk in his two innings.
Caldwell pitched five innings of relief and allowed three unearned runs with two strikeouts and two walks to pick up the loss.
For Knappa, Rusinovich tossed six innings of four-hit ball.
The senior southpaw was tagged for four runs, walked five, hit two batters and struck out four.
Reflecting on a solid campaign
In his sophomore campaign, Keever saw his football team advance to the state semifinals, and the hoops team finished one point from earning a Baker City berth.
Friday’s baseball season ended one win shy of the semifinals.
“The most frustrating thing that I feel right now is knowing that we have been so close in winning it all in multiple sports,” Keever said. “Don’t get me wrong, this group of guys are very skilled and are going to be missed next year.”
As he hangs up his catching gear one last time, Kortge has enjoyed the final ride of his high school career.
He caps 2015 as a first-team all-Blue Mountain Conference award winner.
“I’m frustrated my high school career is over and I won’t be able to play ball with this great group of guys anymore,” Kortge said. “I loved playing at Dufur. I have so many great memories that I have learned a lot from. It was awesome to be a part of a program that had such a great group of guys, that I could have fun with and also be successful.”
Building for the future
This season, the Rangers enjoyed their best start in school history, using a 15-game winning streak to a 20-1 record and a No. 2 ranking in state.
They lost five games in a row, two against Burns and Regis, who are both in the semifinals, but earned a state berth after a 9-8 comeback win over Irrigon in the Blue Mountain Conference District consolation game on May 23 in The Dalles.
Wednesday, the bats busted loose for a 16-3 opening-round triumph over Toledo.
Dufur had the fifth-best scoring offense with 287 runs scored in 30 games for 9.6 a game with a team batting average of .359.
With the addition of pitching coach Dean Dollarhide, the Ranger pitchers held a 2.03 earned run average with 147 hits allowed in 183 innings.
The staff combined for 264 strikeouts and 79 walks.
With the losses of Caldwell, Kortge, Tibbets, Zach Knapp and Nick Little to graduation, the Rangers will need to re-tool in order to get back to championship status.
“I think that the returners for next year really have to step up big and fill the spots that are being lost,” Keever said. “We’ve got a big class of kids coming up next year and hopefully they can fill the holes and we can continue our success.”
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