DUFUR – Through little league, Babe Ruth, American Legion and his first 86 varsity baseball games, Dufur senior Bryson Caldwell waited to hit his first home run.
He thought he had it in the bottom of the third inning, but Irrigon right fielder Fredy Veras crashed through the right field fence for an acrobatic catch to rob Caldwell of his glory.
In his next at-bat, however, Caldwell laced a 1-1 offering from the man who stole his home run bid just a few innings earlier 330-feet over the left field fence to start a nine-run fifth-inning rally for a Ranger 12-3 victory over Irrigon Tuesday at Dufur City Park.
“It was very exciting. My first home run ever. I am just glad I got one before I graduated,” Caldwell said with a chuckle. “It felt good to get things rolling. We were going slowly, but then after that hit, the team definitely started going. It is nice to know that I helped the team out.”
Through the first four innings, Irrigon pitcher Austin Rice had the Rangers fit to be tied.
The southpaw allowed one hit, walked two and used a defensive gem by Vera to keep Dufur off the scoreboard.
Once Rice exited with a 3-0 lead, Vera came on in relief in the bottom of the fifth inning and the Ranger bats teed off for seven hits and four walks.
With one out, Dufur’s Connor Uhalde led off with a walk, and Caldwell followed up with a two-run home run.
Or so he thought – The umpires initially ruled the hit a ground rule double, but conferred and determined that indeed Caldwell’s blast went over the fence, so Dufur was behind, 3-2.
Jake Kortge, playing in his first game since suffering an ankle injury on Feb. 24 during basketball, laced an RBI double to right centerfield to score Trever Tibbets, who reached on an infield single, to tie the score at 3-all.
Kolbe Bales had an RBI single, Bailey Keever drove in a run with a groundout and Nick Little scored on a wild pitch to move Dufur ahead by a 6-3 margin.
Uhalde then plated Hagen Pence with a single, and Caldwell chased home Brent Sumner and Uhalde on a two-run bloop single to center to give the Rangers a 9-3 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Pence and Sumner roped back-to-back run-scoring RBI doubles, Sumner’s bringing in Little and Pence to move the Rangers in front, 12-3.
Bales walked a tightrope in the top of the seventh inning by giving up two walks and a single to start, but the lefty struck out the next batter and got a game-ending double play with Kortge tagging out the runner at home for the final putout.
Bales pitched four innings of relief and allowed three hits and walked two to go along with six strikeouts for his team-leading third win of the year.
Overall, the Rangers (7-1 overall) had 13 hits and received eight walks, as Caldwell led the way with a 3 for 5 effort. He drove in four runs and scored another.
Bales went 2 for 4 with two runs and an RBI, Little had three hits and scored twice and Pence tacked on a hit, an RBI, two walks and two runs scored.
“We just kind of started off slow, but once one person gets it going, it snowballs into good things,” Caldwell said.
Off to a 7-1 start to the season and with Kortge back healthy, the Rangers look to continue their momentum swing.
Kortge adds depth to the pitching staff and the all-league catcher has the ability to change a game with his defensive prowess.
In the game, Kortge gunned down two base stealers, picked off another runner and laid down the final tag to complete the game-ending double play.
As one of six seniors, he is ready to make this last into June with a state championship.
“I think that is the mentality with all of the seniors. We all want to have a good year and go out with a bang, per se,” said Kortge. “It is going to be fun to see the aggressiveness that we come out with and play with and the tenacity to come out and bury teams. I think that is going to help us along the way.”
Dufur heads to Molalla at 4:30 p.m. Thursday to take on Country Christian (3-3).
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