DUFUR senior third baseman Trever Tibbets rifles a double to the left field fence during the fourth inning of Tuesday’s 2A Blue Mountain Conference baseball game played at Dufur City Park. The No. 3-ranked Rangers scored 32 runs in 10 frames to post a doubleheader sweep by scores of 13-3 and 19-2.
DUFUR senior third baseman Trever Tibbets rifles a double to the left field fence during the fourth inning of Tuesday’s 2A Blue Mountain Conference baseball game played at Dufur City Park. The No. 3-ranked Rangers scored 32 runs in 10 frames to post a doubleheader sweep by scores of 13-3 and 19-2.
There’s no better way to send a statement to the rest of the Blue Mountain Conference than with a dominant offensive performance.
The No. 3-ranked Dufur rangers reeled off 32 runs on 27 hits, 10 walks and five hit batters in taking a doubleheader sweep over Culver by scores of 13-3 and 19-2 Tuesday in 2A baseball play at Dufur City Park.
“The message was that we were a solid ball club and we are not going to back down from anyone,” said Dufur coach C.S. Little.
In the opening game, Dufur had 12 hits and broke open a 7-3 lead with six runs in the bottom of the third inning.
Hagen Pence drove in a run with a single, Bailey Keever added two RBIs on a single and Trever Tibbets drove in two runs with a double to cap the inning to move Dufur ahead, 13-3.
Tibbets silenced Culver in the fourth inning, and lefty reliever Kolbe Bales retired the side in order on three strikeouts in the fifth frame to close the door.
Tibbets lasted four innings and allowed three runs, two unearned, on one hit, a walk, a hit batter and six strikeouts.
Offensively, Tibbets went 4 for 4 with two doubles, two runs scored and four RBIs.
Keever had a hit and four RBIs, Bryson Caldwell added a 2 for 3 effort with a run and two RBIs, and Brent Sumner finished 3 for 3, scored a run and drove in another.
Connor Uhalde was impressed with all aspects of the game coming together.
“We did great. It was nice to come out and get two wins on these guys,” said Uhalde. “We have a lot of good hitters, seven solid pitchers and we play good defense. When we put all of that together, we are going to win some games.”
Fresh off a mercy-ruled output against Culver ace Adam Knepp, the Ranger bats came out swinging for 15 hits off Culver pitchers Clay McClure and Cole Little, including a by Nick Little as part of an eight-run fourth inning to complete the sweep with a 19-2 win.
Up by an 11-2 margin, Dufur sent 13 batters to the plate against Cole Little, Culver’s reliever, and rapped out six hits, two walks and a hit batter.
Kortge had an RBI groundout and Crawford drove in Tibbets with an RBI single to make it, 13-2.
Nick Little then hammered a fastball over the left field fence for a two-run homer.
Anderson was hit by a pitch and both Pence and Knapp received back-to-back walks to load the bases for Uhalde.
The sophomore roped a three-run triple scoring Anderson, Pence and Knapp to make it an 18-2 lead.
Caldwell capped the inning with an RBI single to bring in Uhalde.
Seven different players posted hits and 10 players scored runs, as Crawford went 1 for 1 with a run and an RBI, and Bales tacked on two doubles, three runs scored and three RBIs.
The 1-2-3 part of the order in Uhalde, Caldwell and Tibbets combined to go 8 for 13 with eight runs and six RBIs.
Jake Kortge drove in four runs, Keever had two RBIs, and Nick Little had a single, a triple, a home run, two runs scored and three RBIs.
From the mound, Caldwell tossed five innings of four-hit ball with 10 strikeouts and two walks.
Even though Dufur has 11 games left and boast the state’s best scoring offense at 10.9 runs a game, coach Little is intent on keeping his team grinding away for the long haul.
There is always improvements to make.
“That goes without saying,” the Ranger coach said. “We are always trying to get better. That is always our mantra. We need to take each day and play for the moment and get better each day. That is how you get better in the end.”
Dufur (13-1 overall, 2-0 league) has the weekend off until playing two games at home versus Lyle starting at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, April 14.
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